Ms.Chhaya Soni & Mr.Jitendra Kr. Singh
Lecturer (B.Ed.)
Rama Mahavidyalaya, Chinhut, Lucknow
Right to educate oneself and one’s children is a basic right
in civilized society. More so, in a country like India, where the constitution
provides for equal opportunities for learning to all citizens alike. Resources
for formal education in schools, colleges & universities are bound to be
limited. A large number of students who could not seek admission to the course
they desired to pursue and students who drop out from institutions due to
constraints beyond their control, e.g. lack of resources, inability to cope up
with pressure of work, family circumstances, etc. wish to study later in life.
They may choose to do so as full-time or as in service and part time students.
Formal education has no scope for readmission. That makes a case for the
establishments of non-formal modes of education like distance education, open
school, correspondence education, telelecturing & teleconference etc.
Impotonce Of Distance Education- After independence,
India had made tremendous progress in the field of education, though mostly
quantitative in nature. Earlier, education was available only to the elites in
society, and a large majority of poor and marginalized people remained
illiterate. Political considerations have an important role in the expansion of
higher education, especially at the state level. The state government
experienced tremendous pressure from the public to establish more and more
colleges and universities. In a democratic society, even the strong governments
find it very difficult to resist such pressures and are compelled to succumb to
the same. These considerations have led to fast expansion of higher education
in our country, which in turn, have adverse impact upon its quality. Therefore,
in order to insure access and education of a reasonably good quality, we must
think of some alternative system capable of supplementing the role of
conventional system, and distance education is one of such alternatives
The term Distance Education received a formal
recognition in 1982 when the four decades old International Council for
Correspondence Education was renamed as the International Council for Distance
Education. The old concept of distance education was exclusively associated
with print material, while the new concept of distance education include
supplementary material being used through non-print media, also such as radio,
television, computers, through projectors, video lessons and satellites. These
institutions may be called the dual mode institutions.
Now at
present, India has two types of distance education institutions.
They
are 1. Correspondence courses institutions. 2. Open Universities.
Distance education gets overwhelming response in
India, the universities introduced many new distance-education job oriented
courses according to the changing times and students requirements. The actual
motive of providing quality education to all took the backseat as the main
focus of universities slowly shifted to making more and more money. Currently
in India, the Distance Education departments are generating the maximum revenue
for their universities, in many cases more than even the professional and self
financing courses. Except above qualities, distance educations have another
some importance qualities which one make it’s very fruitful .Qualities are……………
1.
Equality of opportunity to study
2.
Student’s
desire of learning and progress
3.
Faith
in the dignity of an individual
4.
Freedom
of time, place and pace of learning
5.
Ability
to learn at any age in life
6.
Struggle
to improve quality of life
7.
Autonomy
of style and technique of learning
8.
Facility
to acquire knowledge in new area
With the help of above qualities distance education
mode has become very popular and common in India, because it is catering to a
wide range of aspirants (students), who are willing to upgrade their
educational qualifications for various reasons. The Distance education system
provides opportunities not only to younger students but also to those from the
older age groups. The main reasons for increasing interest in Distance
education lies in the need for continuing education in today's competitive
world. Every people always try to add value to their competence in their bid to
advance their carrier further. Distance Education is also very cheaper to
compare with regular mode of education. Distance education has greatly reduced
the wall of distance between education and a normal student beyond the long
distance of home or work place to university. Now just a little need to
increase the need to make it professional and employability part of education
community.
Significance Of Technology Based Distance Education
“ The house of education, which we want to build as
of course going to be different than cottage in which we are living till this
time. We know the present cottage does not fulfill our needs at present and
certainly not going to cater for the needs in the coming decade,” Said Shri
I.J. Patel, President, Indian Association for Programmed Learning and
Educational Technology, Bombay. Here we want to express concern for educational
reforms with reference to changing circumstances.
The traditional classroom with one teacher teaching
30 or 40 students which was mainly one-way communication of information is no
longer effective for modern conditions. The two general factors “information
explosion” and “population explosion” are bringing about changes in the development
and developing countries in more or less degree. Both of them have posed
critical problems for education—more things to be learnt and more individuals
to learn. It is not possible to solve them by conventional means. For solving
these problems successfully, educational technology consisting of various media
of mass communication, suitable child-learning process and modern testing and
evaluation techniques are essentially required. Especially in developing
countries like India, it has to be mastered and utilized by educationists, if
they are to keep pace with each other and catch up with developed nations. As
such, both quantitative expansion as well as qualitative improvement of
education can be facilitated and accelerated with the help of educational technology.
In
order to provide open access to education to all, especially to those
disadvantaged groups who could not join the formal system of education due to
inbuilt constraints of the formal/conventional system. Open and distance
education institutions have been increasing their access to higher education
for a larger segment of population through multi-media instructional system. At
present there are 117 institutions offering 31,000 courses in 103 countries
(Madhavan, K and Manoj R. 2001). In its mission to reach out to the masses, the
institutions have started introducing different technology in the delivery
process to make the learners comfortable and to receive education at a
convenient time and place as dictated by the learner. Hence the role of
technology in distance education delivery process is imminent and thus the
whole process became learner-centered approach.
With the advent and
advancement in communication technology, the education is becoming high- tech
and the instructional changes are taking place. A variety of audio, radio,
video, television, teleconferencing, video conferencing, computer technologies
etc. have become part of the multi media package in teaching and learning at a
distance. Radio, Audio and video teaching are considered as old technologies
where as video conferencing and computer teaching are high tech/new modes (A.W Bates 1995). The new technology
enables the learners to do courses offered from any part of the world with out
moving out from their homes.
In the field of
distance education most of the institutions adopt different modes of delivery
starting from print media as first level development to the present high tech
video conferencing and computer teaching as a fifth level development. The
modes of delivery have undergone different changes over the years and the
institutions are competing to become more learner centered and assisting the
learners with more supplementary modes of delivery. Now, the trend is towards
the use of new technologies in distance education as a supplementary to the
existing systems.
In the context of
India, the higher education in the conventional system is taken care by the
Government by Supporting with sponsorships. The question is now to assist the
disadvantages groups mainly adults in different settings. Most of the adult
community who prefer distance education are working force and also those who
could not attend to formal system due to distance, time and age factor. Since
the country’s population is wide spread geographically, the significance of
technology as a mode of delivery is the order of the day. Further, most of the
young school leavers prefer the formal education. But the adults who wanted to
learn at their own pace, time, location, etc., have increased in number. And
the majority of learners who enrolled in distance education programmes are
adults. Evan IGNOU, the adult community is
the majority in their programmes.
Available Means Of Technology For Distance Education- Although distance
education and its development is not new to India, the use of technology and
its suitable role is the recent phenomenon. As such the role of technology in
the delivery of distance education programmes is limited. However, National
Development Plan reassured the Government’s commitment on the use of technology
in distance education programmes. While the rationale for the use of technology
is tied mostly to meet the needs of adult community, its future growth
acceptance by the government and other distance education institutions led to a
wide range of positive responses from different clientele in the society. The
knowledge of technology based distance education should guide all facilitators
as they play their roles in sensitizing the importance of technology in
distance education. This should further help to understand learners’ problems
and thus ensure the selection of proper technology to the intended purpose.
In the process of
identifying suitable mode of technology, the concerned institution should
conduct needs assessment surveys and come up with the proposals to invest in
technology. Apart from this, the International Council for open and Distance
education (ICDE),
Canadian
Association for Distance Education (CADE) European distance education network (EDEN) and other relevant international
agencies should guide these institutions with the required technology. In the
days to come Virtual Universities are bound to become a reality when the
institutions make ubiquitous application of new technology to deliver cost
effective quality education to learners all over the world.
The Centre for
Distance Education uses the following multimedia approach for educational instruction
to increase access to its learners.
•Supplying the
printed course material
• Providing
facilities for contact-cum counseling sessions at the study centers
•
Organizing residential sessions/week end sessions for intensive coaching
•
Broadcasting radio lessons through Radio
• Producing
audio tapes and availing them to students at study centers
• Providing
continuous evaluations through assignments
• Providing
laboratory practical sessions in science subjects.
Video
lessons: The department is
planning to record video lessons in its recently established Audio-Visual Suit
and deliver the video cassettes to the students through the study centers.
On-line
Communications: In view of
the importance that is attached to computer net working, the department is
seriously thinking to make some of its courses available through on-line
wherever internet facilities are available. The government of Botswana is
prepared to invest in this process of development and already internet and
e-mail awareness has increased in the country and facilities are available in
most places of the country.
Video-Conferencing:
This facility at the
moment is available with the distance education. The equipment is installed
through Education Democracy and Development Initiative (EDDI)
project sponsored by USA.The facility is functional and the staffs are also
being trained on how to use the system and soon the facility will come under
effective use.
IGNOU is also using more or
less the same multi media for the delivery of distance education programmes
which includes, Print materials, contact –cum counseling radio and audio
lessons, assignments, laboratory facilities, etc .The Video programmes have
just started to complement the other media which will be very useful for
practical subjects. The institution is also planning to introduce computer
network to deliver lessons through internet and e-mail. Plans are also underway
to deliver some of its courses through T.V. channels.
Future Prospects
For The Use Of Technology In Distance Education- Before discussing the future prospects, it is
desirable to know the different approaches used in instructional delivery.
Integrated
approach: In this
approach, several media are used together to deliver educational services. This
requires to be planned at the curriculum development stage.
Complimentary
approach: In this
approach, different media are used for different part of the syllabus. In this
various media are given assigned roles and this should be planned at the time
of curriculum development.
Supplementary
approach: In addition to
print media, any other media is used as an additional/alternative presentation
depending on the amenability. This is used at any stage to enrich the
knowledge.
Independent
approach: In this
approach, any media is used alone for delivery of educational programme.
In view of the above approaches, the best
approach is supplementary approach, which is flexible and suitable in most
settings. This approach is being used at present IGNOU.
The future of distance education development lies in the effective use of the
following media:
Audio
lessons:
Audio lessons can be well planned and presented by adding the element of
dramatization sound effects, synchronization with music, etc. In western
countries, and IGNOU in India, audio cassettes
are extensively used. Audio cassettes can either be mailed to students as part
of their learning materials or made available at study centers. The distance
education has to double the capacity in this area and dub many lessons on this
media. Since, it is easy to integrate the audio lessons into course design and development;
the audio technology should play an important role in optimizing
teaching/learning activity in India.
Radio
lessons: This
is another important media used in distance education. Radio has been
extensively used for educational purposes all over the world. Although distance
education is using this media, it is not enough, and the number of hours per
week should be increased to accommodate as many subjects as possible. In fact the
Government of India for a separate channel in future when the programmes are
expanded. This is also very helpful media for adult learners giving the
situation under which these adult communities live. Since some adult learners
are unable to listen to the Radio lessons as the time might be unsuitable, the CCE would arrange to make copies of
Radio lessons in the form of audio cassettes and dispatch the same to study
centers.
Video
lessons: The
lessons prepared at the studio setting will be supplied to students through
video cassettes. This facilitates everybody, whoever has got T.V and VCRs, to watch these lessons and
supplement the print media. Informal feedback suggests that this media will be
used extensively because most households have T.V & VCR sets, moreover these can be arranged
at study centers at the cost of the providing institution. These lessons are
extremely useful for teaching science subject which involve demonstration,
laboratory tests, etc. Besides, the video cassettes have an advantage over
television as they enable the learner to have control and watch the programmes
according to his/her time, place and pace.
Television
lessons: This
is another method which can be tried to make use of the T.V channel which is
dedicated for the purpose. This is considered to be an effective medium for
imparting education as most learners prefer watching television to reading or
studying course material. It is one of the most accessible media for open and
distance education. Television as a medium has been subject to considerable
change since the mid 1980s (Bates 1995).
Introduction
of Interactive Radio Programmes: The interactive radio has been introduced by many
distance education institutions in many countries. In this process, the
students can listen to the lecture by the subject expert and after listening,
the learners would have their questions clarified by phoning in.
Conclusion- Distance education plays very important role for giving
education for a specific group of the society those who are prohibited by the
formal education system. Without technology, distance education can not fulfill
our responsibility. So we can say, in distance education, the use of proper
technology will make all the different in providing effective learning to the
learner. With the suitable technology in place, the distance education will
become a high quality education compared to conventional education, and will
become a preferred mode of education in present and future settings.
REFERENCE
1. UNESDOC.UNESCO.ORG/IMAGES
2.
TOOSTEP.COM/….IMPORTANCE
3. Mohanty,
Jagannath, Education Technology (2005), New Delhi: Deep & Deep Publication
4. Rastogi, Satish, Education Technology for Distance Education, (1998),
New Delhi: Rawat publication
