Without a cure for HIV/ AIDS, the present generation not yet infected must be prevented from contracting the disease. Those unsure of their status must acknowledge their risk level and, where necessary, get tested so that they do not unintentionally infect others. Those already infected must practise respon­sible sexual behaviour to avoid infecting others, to avoid re-infecting them­selves, and to improve the quality of their lives.

National, regional and international examinations are usually aimed at assess­ing knowledge and skills of candidates/ students guided by the delimitations of content and objectives specified in a syllabus, curriculum and/ or course outline. These tools of assessment take various forms and modes and are sub­ject to a range of interpretations of achievement or non-achievement. In order to determine levels of achievement, these assessment tools are often accompanied by descriptive rubrics which assist in assigning a fair grade to the items responded to in the examination.

Education should change the way that we live. The planetary crisis--of cli­mate change, depleted energy resources, air and water pollution, species ex­tinction, violence, poverty, HIV/ AIDS etc-requires a radical shift from education that is narrowly confined to the classroom to one that places stu­dents in community. Education that is solely an indoor activity, using Orr's term (2006) produces graduates who often know much about their world but do not act to change their world.

Objective knowledge framed by formal theory has long enjoyed pride of place in academic publications. Here the authority of text is privileged over the au­thority of lived experience. Other types of knowledge are excluded from writ­ten discourse because they are seen as inappropriate or lacking in academic rigour. Thus, formal academic writing often seems removed from the real world.

The infusion of technology in education and training activities is not a new development. There is ample evidence in research and related litera­ture to show that interests in and explorations of the potential of technol­ogy to enhance teaching and learning have always been heightened with every new age of technology innovations.

In-service teachers are conscious of the potential educational gains that could be made through the integration of technology in the delivery of instruction. Despite this, many are unable to make the quantum leap to embrace technology because of the challenges which they face. What are the barriers which prevent teachers from integrating computer technology in teaching? How can these barriers be overcome?

Purpose of the Paper 
The purpose of this paper is to do the following:
1. To trace the development of two models for training teachers by dis­tance delivery used by the University of the West Indies (Mona) over the past twenty-five years, with special reference to provisions for quality control. The models are the Certificate in Education by dis­tance and the Bachelor of Education in Secondary Education by dis­tance/ summer and on-line.
 

It began one Monday evening as I entered the room where I thought I was going to meet the small group of graduate students who had signed up for my course: Introduction to Qualitative Methods in Education. As an educator committed to the use of critical pedagogy, I had planned, among other things, to engage this small group in deep, meaningful and dynamic conversations that would facilitate the development of their individual and collective Voices. Imagine my dismay when I opened the door and found all of fifty-six nervous looking students crammed into the room!