scholarly journals The response to current challenges from an institution of open and distance learning, the Open University, UK

Author(s):  
Hélène Pulker
Author(s):  
Ramesh C. Sharma ◽  
Sanjaya Mishra

The education system in India has witnessed various transformations: from ancient system of Gurukul (where the teacher and the taught used to attain educational objectives living in proximity) to online or virtual education where the teacher or students interact through Internet technologies only. There have been a lot of improvements in telecommunications and educational facilities. The country as a whole has noticed developments in many areas of social, economical, scientific and infrastructure sectors. Therefore educational systems need to be integrated with such sectors so that the investment in building human capital results in overall national growth. The open and distance learning (ODL) system is one such tool which can help in addressing local, regional and national needs. Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) with more than two million learners in 2009 and a country-wide reach with over 60 regional centres and over 2000 learner support centres catering to remote and tribal areas has been a leader towards the democratization of education with social responsibility. IGNOU offers a large number of vocational and employment-oriented courses in the area of health, agriculture, retail, tourism, hospitality, and so on. The university has the challenges of managing the convergence (of formal and ODL stream) and to serve large number of students spread across the breadth and length of the country. Three vital areas of education (i.e., inclusion, expansion and excellence) need to be addressed as priorities. Thus to address these, new mechanisms of e-tutoring have been introduced by IGNOU. This chapter discusses the applications of e-tutoring and its implications in the context of Indian National Open University.


Author(s):  
Manjulika Srivastava ◽  
Venugopal Reddy

The question why some learners successfully study through distance mode and others do not is increasingly becoming important as open and distance learning (ODL) has come to occupy a prominent place in providing higher education to large segments of the population in India. With barely 1112 students studying through distance mode in 1962, the number has crossed 2.8 million in 2006. This article presents the findings of an empirical research study conducted to investigate the study habits of successful distance learners of the India Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). Every year, nearly 70,000-80,000 pass out of IGNOU. What strategies were adopted by these diverse groups, what media they utilized, and what modes of support they prefered are some of the major issues addressed in this study.


Comunicar ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (58) ◽  
pp. 51-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arul Chib ◽  
Caitlin Bentley ◽  
Reidinar-Juliane Wardoyo

The role of digital media and learning has often been synonymous with the use of open education resources in formal institutional settings. Further, open and distance learning has been criticized for focusing narrowly on educational objectives, ignoring socio-political issues of access and participation by marginalized populations. This study examines the lived experiences of female migrant domestic workers (N=20) in Singapore attending Open University. Mobile and social media supplement open and distance learning resources to allow for open practices of consumption, production and sharing in distributed contexts of digital learning. Marginalized students engaged in participation and collaboration activities, with specific privacy practices due to their social positions. Digital learning led to substantive learning for personal empowerment and social transformation, with aspirational strategies often involving digital skills. The discussion reflects on identity management across formal and informal digital settings as a means of transforming societal discourses of discrimination. El rol de los medios digitales y el aprendizaje a menudo ha sido sinónimo del uso de recursos educativos abiertos en entornos institucionales formales. Además, el aprendizaje abierto y a distancia (ODL) ha sido criticado por centrarse estrictamente en los objetivos educativos, ignorando las cuestiones sociopolíticas de acceso y de participación de las poblaciones marginalizadas. Este estudio examina las experiencias de vida de un grupo de trabajadoras domésticas migrantes (N=20) en Singapur que asisten a Open University. Los medios móviles y las redes sociales complementan los recursos ODL para permitir prácticas abiertas de consumo, producción e intercambio en contextos distribuidos de aprendizaje digital. Los estudiantes marginalizados intervinieron en actividades participativas y colaborativas, con prácticas de privacidad específicas de acuerdo a sus posiciones sociales. El aprendizaje digital condujo a un aprendizaje sustantivo para el empoderamiento personal y la transformación social, con estrategias de aspiración que a menudo involucran habilidades digitales. La discusión reflexiona sobre la gestión de identidades en entornos digitales formales e informales como un medio para transformar los discursos sociales de discriminación.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hakan Kılınç ◽  
Hakan Altınpulluk ◽  
Mehmet Fırat

The rise in youth unemployment rates across the world is considered as an important problem. Higher education institutions tasked with raising the human profile needed for various business sectors are undergoing a digital transformation, supported by digital technology. The focus of this digital transformation is open and distance learning. Open and distance learning is becoming increasingly important, and is becoming an effective way to access the most up-to-date information, especially for working adult individuals. Open and distance learning, which covers mass education activities, reach more people than face-to-face education by its nature and so it produces more graduates. This important feature of open and distance learning necessitates studies to reveal the employment status of graduates in different countries. Using the basic qualitative model, this study aims to examine open and distance learners' views on employment. Thus, the employment-related views of 92 open and distance learning graduates from Anadolu University in Turkey, Open University in UK, and Indira Gandhi National Open University in India were analyzed. The themes obtained through content analysis were peer views, expectations for employment, gaining prestige after graduation, career planning, increasing diversity in the business sectors of open education, and the need for experience for employment. The study is concluded with suggestions for both application and research.


Open Praxis ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 313
Author(s):  
Juliet Obhajajie Inegbedion

The quality of the programmes and courses in ODL depends on the academics that plan the programmes, develop the curriculum, manage courses and programmes and carry out administrative duties. It is observed that the academics often complain of work overload. It also appears there is a mix-up in integrating the mode of planning workload in the conventional universities into the open and distance education universities. This may be attributed to inadequate spread in the duties assigned, which if not checked could affect the quality of teaching and learning. This necessitated the study that was carried out to determine academic workload in NOUN. The findings revealed a gap between academic activities and adequate utilisation of time. Also, inadequate spread of activities affects the quality of the academic inputs. This led to the development of academic workload model to guide the spread of academic activities in open and distance learning.


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