Materials for Learning (1981) examines the ability of books and broadcasts to change lives. The combination of print, radio, television and group meetings – distance teaching – can transform education in developing countries. Effective distance teaching requires effective teaching materials, and up to now there has been a lack of guidance about how to produce such materials and how to do so for different cultures. Materials for Learning aims to supply this need by suggesting guidelines for action and, where evidence is mixed or lacking, defining questions that still require answers. It is a practical book aimed at people actively involved in nonformal education and will be particularly useful for the developing world educators. The book looks first at how distance teaching can help with educational problems, considers how adults learn, and surveys problems of language and culture. It then considers the planning of distance teaching and looks in detail at the use of different media. There were also chapters on teaching numeracy and science at a distance, and a discussion of the kind of support that can be provided for people studying at a distance.

This reissue, first published in 1980, is based on the experiences of the International Extension College in developing distance teaching. The volume begins by reviewing the world problems of educational quality and quantity, and then examines the ways in which print, broadcasts and group study have been used to train teachers, to improve classroom education, to teach by correspondence out of school, and to support rural development. It then considers how that experience can be used, perhaps by creating a network of radio colleges, to supplement and extend existing schools and colleges. Finally, the book includes a descriptive and annotated bibliography of over 100 distance teaching projects in 65 third world countries.