Radio

This chapter deals with home kits used in distance education. Home kits, sometimes called home experiment kits, are generally an assortment of hardware sent to each student taking a particular course. They are predominantly components of science and technology courses, although they are also part of the odd social science, maths and arts course. Generally, the home kit activity is quite tightly structured so that deviation from the intended pathway, failure and frustration on the part of the student is minimised. It would be misleading to claim that home kits used in distance education have radically different educational advantages over similar hardware used by students in 'face to face' learning situations. On one particular course, when home kit work was assessed, even some of the tutors were not clear about the language used in one test item. In conclusion it seems that home kits have considerable potential, both within the home and without, and potentially at all levels of education.