Sri Lanka

Open University of Sri Lanka

Prepared by:

B. Weerasinghe

Brief description of the programme

The Open University of Sri Lanka (ousl) was established in 1980 to provide greater access to higher learning for the employed and adults. Today it has an enrolment of nearly 20,000 students spread across three faculties of study: Engineering Technology, Humanities and Social Studies, and Natural Science. The programmes offered vary from one-year certificates and two-year diplomas, to three- and four-year degree programmes. Students can extend the duration of study at their convenience. ousl also offers reading for post-graduate diplomas and degrees.

The distance education strategy involves the distribution to learners of study material in print, supplemented occasionally with audio cassettes. Limited video material is available for viewing at regional centres and study centres.

Regional centres are larger resource bases than study centres in terms of physical space, facilities, and staff availability. Currently four regional centres and 16 study centres are spread across the country. Day schools offer limited face-to-face interaction between staff and students at these centres. Laboratory facilities are more concentrated at the Colombo regional centre with limited access at other regional centres.

Student performance is assessed through continuous assessments and a final exam.

Problems encountered

Planning and managing distance education

•       The study programmes and their conduct are planned by individual faculties and implemented with the approval of the university Senate. Management of activities related to the conduct of programmes are done according to a master plan by the director of operations. The ousl is currently formulating a three-year corporate plan to enhance planning and management.

Implementing quality assurance

•       There has been no quality assurance system in place until recently. ousl has now developed its own house style. The British Overseas Development Administration (oda) Project to improve distance education at the ousl (1996 to 1999) has both a material production and a desktop publishing component which, by its completion, would have quality assurance systems in place for study material in print. Quality assurance for audio-visual material is yet to be formulated. The Senate has approved recently a scheme to award merit points for audio-visual productions to teachers involved in their production, which would develop into a quality assurance system. Currently, research surveys are being conducted to assess the quality of delivery mechanisms.

Using and integrating media in distance education

•       Yet to achieve a satisfactory level, the use of media in distance education is limited to regular workshops conducted for academic staff, which focus on the need to enhance print material with other media components and the need for integration. One drawback seems to be the availability of staff time for the exercise.

Instructional design and production for distance education

•       ousl has developed a manual called Distance Writing: Bridging the Gap, which guides lesson writers in important aspects of distance writing. However, the consensus is that ousl material could improve both in instructional design and enhancement with media. The material production component of the oda project may, within the next three years, contribute extensively to the transformation of existing material.

Learner support systems

•       A guidebook distributed to students at registration now helps to induct students to the system of distance education at the ousl. Further activities to orient students are being planned, including a video programme for student viewing at registration. Such orientation is crucial for success, especially for younger students. Student counselling is available easily for those who desire such help. The Regional Education Service (res), functioning under a director, looks after the student support activities in the network of regional and study centres. res provides facilities and staff to support student registration; issue course material; facilitate day schools, laboratory work, and continuous assessments and examinations; and provide library services and dormitory facilities for overnight stays at regional centres. Currently, a conscious effort is being made to improve student support at every level of operation. However, budgetary constraints and overload of the human network imposes certain restrictions in resolving issues as they surface.

•       Activities related to the printing and dispatch of material are looked after by the director of operations. A new building complex for the university press and storage of material was nearing completion in 1997. Consequently, an upgrading of services in this area should result.

The most important issue: Using and integrating media in distance education

In the beginning, the majority of teachers at ousl came from the conventional university system, their experiences rich in the use of print and face-to-face teaching. To most, use of other media components as well as distance writing itself has been an alien experience. The initial pressure to gather together course material to launch programmes in the early phase of development, within specified deadlines, had resulted in a first cycle of course material in need of much improvement to suit the distance mode. Adopting an appropriate ‘media mix’ had also suffered drawbacks for the same reasons. Instructional design and media integration were at a low ebb. This scenario is apparently not unique to ousl. Other institutions in the region and elsewhere have undergone similar experiences during their formative years.

With nearly 15 years of experience, in 1997 the ousl has paused and is looking back with a hope of consolidating its future. In 1993, the government of Japan donated a US$8.5 million project to establish a state-of-the-art audio-visual production centre. Since then the ousl has been training academic staff in the use of audio-visuals to enhance study material. Nearly 100 academic staff have now been trained at several in-house workshops of one month’s duration in which project work demands the completion of a print-related audio and a video programme. A long term Japanese International Cupertino Agency (jica) expert has been helping the training for the last four years. However, the completion rate has been affected by the heavy workloads of academic staff who after their return from the workshop mostly fail to find time for media inputs. The ousl at present has no staff positions comparable to ‘producers’ and depends on input by academic staff and a competent team of technical staff to carry out productions.

The university Senate has recently approved a merit point scheme to award merit points for audio-visual productions that would be considered as career promotion exercises for academic staff. This strategy to motivate staff participation in audio-visual productions is pending University Grants Commission approval at present. Its effectiveness in overcoming the constraints mentioned earlier is yet to be proven.

A positive outcome of all these activities is the awareness and consensus among academics that media components are very desirable to enhance learning. It is a personal belief that achieving this end in itself has been extremely important.

This is only a beginning. A longer journey waits to reach the goal of an adequate level of media component production to enhance all study material at ousl. 

Open University of Sri Lanka
Post-Graduate Diploma in Education Programme

Prepared by:

G. D. Lekamge

Brief description of the programme

The ousl started the two-year Post-Graduate Diploma in Education Programme (pgde) in 1980 in collaboration with the Ministry of Education of Sri Lanka. The main objective of the programme is to provide professional training for graduate teachers employed in government schools, pirtvenas (community schools) private schools, and teachers’ colleges. A few years ago selection to the programme was based on teachers’ seniority and the marks obtained in the qualifying test. Now it is open to all graduates of recognised universities.

The curriculum of the programme consists of nine components: eight theory subjects and one practical component. Students complete four theory subjects in each academic year as shown in the following table. Teaching practice, which is the only practical component of the programme, is arranged under the supervision of master teachers and carried out for eight to 10 weeks at the end of the second academic year.

The main medium of imparting instruction is print material. They are supported by occasional day schools, tutorials and a few audio and video programmes. In 1995–96, 3,200 students were enrolled in both Parts I and II of the programme. Several studies have been carried out by ousl academics with the view of improving the quality of material and instruction, minimising drop-out rates, and increasing the effectiveness of the programme.

 

pgde Programme — Part I Courses	pgde Programme — Part II Courses
ESP 1305 — ‘Principles of Education’	ESP 2305 — ‘Teaching Practice’
ESP 1306 — ‘Educational Psychology’	ESP 2306 — ‘Techniques of Teaching’
ESP 1307 — ‘Evaluation of Educational Outcomes’	ESP 2207 — ‘Curriculum, School and Society’
ESP 1308 — ‘Student Adjustment and Counselling’	ESP 2208 — ‘Comparative Education and Educational Problems’
	ESP 2209 — ‘Educational Administration and Management’

Problems encountered

Planning and managing distance education

•       Monitoring and co-ordination of master teachers activities is difficult because of the large numbers involved (250 master teachers) and their placement in dispersed locations.

•       Meeting schedules is difficult: even though the pgde is a two-year programme, academic activities last for six months in each year. Therefore marking assignments and giving eligibility have always been delayed.

Implementing quality assurance

•       Because of the involvement of large numbers and pressure put on meeting eligibility schedules, it is difficult to maintain quality in marking assignments. Discrepancies among marking examiners are noted.

•       Updating material is not economical.

Using and integrating media in distance education

•       Audio-visual programmes are not popular among teacher trainees. They prefer face-to-face instructors to audio-visual programmes.

•       Academic staff is heavily burdened with other activities (planning, management, writing, marking, and conducting day schools), so it is very difficult to find time to produce good quality audio-visual material.

Instructional design and production for distance education

•       It is difficult to simplify material while maintaining the quality of teacher training.

•       Academics who have worked in the conventional university system have little faith in distance methods.

Learner support systems

•       Participation in day schools and tutorials has been limited due to personal difficulties and geographical barriers.

•       Decentralisation of academic and other support is difficult due to lack of facilities.

The most important issue: Monitoring and co-ordinating teaching practice

The ousl recruits nearly 250 master teachers from all over the country to conduct teaching practice during the second year of the programme. They are full-time employees of other institutions like government schools, teachers’ colleges, training colleges, or technical colleges. Therefore they tend to maintain their own schedule of involvement in the distance education programme so that it will not affect their day-to-day activities. Due to the enrolment of large numbers and geographical barriers, proper monitoring and co-ordination procedures cannot be maintained. This situation has led to the following problems:

•       variability in guidance;

•       difficulty in meeting deadlines;

•       poor quality of supervision and guidance;

•       practical difficulties faced by the students; and

•       negligence of the supervisory role (they tend to act as evaluators but not as supervisors).

Solutions

On the basis of recent research findings and the experience of academic staff of the Department of Education, the following procedures were launched as solutions to the above problems:

•       conduct workshops and seminars for master teachers;

•       conduct demonstration lessons for student teachers in small groups; and

•       the significance accorded master teachers’ evaluation was reduced from 50 percent to 30 percent  and a decision was made to consider it a continuous assessment of teaching practice.

Suggestions were also made to allocate 10 to 15 master teachers to each academic member of the Department of Education to monitor their activities. However, many problems remain unsettled.