Training Preferences of Academic Staff in Open Learning

Prof. Mahendra Kumar Ghadoliya

Abstract

Significant changes have taken place in higher education in last two decades all over the world. As a result the role and responsibilities of academic staff in open learning institutions have changed. This article reports the results of a wider research study entitled “Need Assessment and Strategy of Academic Staff Development in Open and Distance Education in India” undertaken with a objective to obtain feedback and identify the training preferences of academic staff .The study covers full-time academic staff working in open universities and correspondence institutes. The study investigates training preferences at personal level. An effort has also been made to record the opinion on staff development programmes attended by the academic staff working in open learning system in India The outcome of this study can be utilised in finalising curriculum for training of academic staff in open learning institutions

An effort has been made to record the opinion on the staff development programmes attended by the academic staff working in open learning system in India.

Introduction

The accurate identification of the training preferences is crucial as the success of any staff development programme depends on the proper identification of needs. Nevertheless we should not forget the truth that no two-distance education institutions follow the same system; nor does the same level of technology support them. Similarly no two individuals are on the same level of understanding and intelligence and can have same preferences and concerns for training. In other words their concerns for training are quite likely to differ. Looking for generalized set of needs, therefore, may not be a search in right direction. In this context Koul (1990)[1], caution that “instead of talking about needs per se it may be advisable to talk of a continuum of ‘need’ terminating in general ones at one end and the specialized ones at the other”. However, theory does little to assist those who face this difficult task. It is important to list priorities for effective planning.

The most influential text on training needs analysis is that of McGehee and Thayer (1961)[2]. They argue that training-needs analysis require much more than ‘armchair celebration’ and suggest analysis at three levels” the organization/institution, job and person. Although needs analysis usually consists of these three distinct investigations, they argue that these should be interrelated so that they build on each other to produce a complete training needs statement.

Institutional Analysis

The preference for training should be related to institutional goals. The institutional goals will ultimately determine the quantum and direction for individual needs. The culture of the institution and its commitment to the pursuit of improvements in teaching and learning was highlighted as a prerequisite for change. The organization must have a clear policy for the development of educational goal, giving due recognition and status to staff efforts in the delivery of open and distance education. The staffs working in open learning institutions generally think that their needs are related to only subject specific knowledge and that research and development of the educational methodology may not be helpful in the career advancement. To some extent their perception for achieving excellence in teaching and subject based research proved true when they are judged on the basis of their subject specific research and output. The institutions therefore must ensure that the research and training in open learning is equally important for their career and that individual goals are in harmony with institutional and organizational goals.

2. ‘Shop-floor’ level analysis

This involves collecting data about a particular job. The analysis will determine what standards are required and what knowledge, skills and attitudes are necessary in order to achieve the set standards. At this level of analysis, it is essential to discover what tasks need to be performed in order to do the job, how they should be performed and that what needs to be learned in order to perform well. McGhee and Thayer (1961) offer the following for carrying out such an analysis:

† Work descriptions will give an outline of the job and typical duties and responsibilities involved;

† Work descriptions are more detailed than job specifications and should give a complete list of tasks. They may also include standards for judging performance in the important tasks;

† Performance standards are usually phrased as objectives for the job and the targets or standards by which these will be judged;

† Actually doing the job is very effective for specific tasks, but has obvious limitations in jobs where there are long gaps between performance and outcomes;

† Work observation or work sampling might also be used to look at particular parts of the job in detail.

3. Analysis at the person level

This involves examining how well one carries out the various tasks that are necessary for successful performance. At the individual level of analysis, the intention is to assess performance levels against those required for the job. Theoretically a training programme can then be designed for each individual to plug the gap between present and desired level of performance. McGhee and Thayer (1961) offer a few techniques by which individual training needs can be identified. These include the following:

Ø Performance appraisal which identifies weaknesses and areas for improvement as well as strength;

Ø Observation and work sampling or testing of knowledge, attitudes and skills required in the job;

Ø Interviews and the questionnaires;

Ø Devising situations such as role-plays, case studies etc.

Methodology

The study covers full-time academic staff working in Open Universities. Directorates of Distance Education and Correspondence Courses and other such institutions engaged in providing education through print or multimedia. A list of academic staff of these institutes was obtained through administrative Heads of these organizations. The sample size for the present study was 106 forms more than 10 percent of the full-time faculty working in these organizations.

Collection of Data

The primary data were collected from the academic staff through self-administered specially designed questionnaire. Besides primary data we have also used of secondary data wherever required. The sources of these data have been quoted wherever they have been used.

It has now become essential to focus in specific training needs as per the learner’s background Laurillard (2002:226) argues that generalisations about learning can be difficult to follow through to the particular concerns of academic teachers. The knowledge is expanding at on explosive rate these days so many now departments and courses are offered that keeping pace and organise training in all these areas is a challenging task. It is therefore thought proper to know the training preferences and the feedback on the training received so the training can really be made effective.

Sample Profile

The needs for staff development arise on account of acceptance of new appointments in open and distance learning organizations or accepting new roles within the open learning organizations. For working out any effective strategy it is important to study the sample profile of the staff working in this system. It is easier to ask to go for a long-term solution for relatively young staff joining directly to the open and distance education system than the relatively aged staff going to retire in next few years. It is therefore important to study age structure of the academic staff.

Table 1

CLASSIFICATION OF RESPONDENTS BY AGE AND SEX
			(In percentage)
Age Group	Female	Male	Total
below 35	2.83	0.00	2.83
36 - 45	10.38	20.75	31.13
46 - 55	16.98	35.85	52.83
56 & above	4.72	8.49	13.21
Total	34.91	65.09	100.00

Source: Survey data

Age/Sex composition

Table 1 presents classification of respondents by age and sex. It is a welcome sign that this system employs nearly one-third females i.e. 35 percent of the total staff were female while 65 percent were male. This system though relatively young is being looked after by relatively old i.e. persons about 45 year of age. More than half of the staff i.e. 53 percent was in the age group 46 to 55 and 13 percent were in the age group of above 55. At the lower age group i.e. below 35 there were only 3 percent of the employees all female. The age group 36-45 employs 31 percent of the staff consisting of 10 percent females and the remaining male. The data have also been represented diagrammatically through vertical bars in Figure 1. The vertical axis measures percentages while on the horizontal axis we have measured age groups. The bars for male and female have been drawn in different colours. The highest concentration can be seen between age group 46-55 both for males as well as for females.

Qualifications of the Staff

In India, when the academic staff members started talking about open and distance education in seventies very few were actually knowing any thing at all about open and distance education leave aside a few who persuaded their studies abroad and had some training in educational technology. On the whole it was true of academic staff engaged in course material preparation, counselling and tutoring and the administrators managing the system. When the system expanded in the initial years a great many universities engaged in face-to-face teaching on campus started correspondence education to fulfil the society’s demand for higher education. These staff acquired knowledge of the system while they were on the job. The situation continued till 1990 when IGNOU was invited to participate in a COL-sponsored, four nation collaborative exercise on post graduate training programmes in distance education. After this exposure to international concerns IGNOU developed a Master’s programme. But before that just after the establishment of IGNOU in 1985 it created a Division of Distance Education in 1986 to provide staff development. IGNOU was the first in developing nations to launch first comprehensive staff training programme as a Diploma in Distance Education (DDE) in 1986 to the Indian clientele interested in getting involved in the development of the system of distance education.

The Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development also came to recognize the quality and potential of these IGNOU courses. At a 1989 regional conference at Islamabad, Pakistan IGNOU’s courses were proposed as having potential and regional application. This led to the recommendation that a specialist institute for staff development in distance and open education should be established at IGNOU. Accordingly the Division of Distance Education was upgraded to become the Staff Training and Research Institute of Distance Education (STRIDE), with a new mandate not only to organize staff development activities including those leading to degrees but also to conduct and promote systematic research in distance education. The Diploma in Distance Education (DDE) programme was upgraded as the Postgraduate Diploma in Distance Education (PGDDE) in 1993. In the same year IGNOU started offering its M.A. in Distance Education (MADE). These programmes were available for the staff working in open and distance education institutions in India and to about twenty developing commonwealth countries under the Rajiv Gandhi Fellowship Scheme of COL instituted in 1993.

It was therefore decided to gather information about the qualification of academic staff working in open and distance education. We enquired about the special academic qualification at the time of joining the open and distance education organization and the results have been produced in Table 2.

The table-2 reveals that staff holding administrative positions such as Directors, have no special qualifications and account for 7 percent of the total. Only 1 percent have joined with a degree of Master of Arts in Distance Education (MADE) while 7 percent have joined open and distance education system with PGDDE, while 24 percent do not report any special qualification at the time of joining the system

Qualification of Academic Staff in Open and Distance Education Institutions
				(In percentage)
	Staff joining with special DE Qualification		Staff joining with no special DE Qlfy.
Designation	MADE	PGDDE	Staff joining with no special DE Qlfy.	Total
1. DIRECTOR	-	-	6.60	6.60
2. ASST DIRECTOR	-	1.89	-	1.89
2. PROFESSOR	0.94	6.60	24.53	32.08
3. ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR/ READER	1.89	3.77	31.13	36.79
4. SENIOR LECTURER	-	0.94	3.77	4.72
5. LECTURER	3.77	3.77	5.66	13.21
6. ANY OTHER	-	-	4.72	4.72
Total	6.60	16.98	76.42	100.00

Source Survey data

Table 2

The table revels that staff holding administrative positions such as directors, have no special qualifications and account for 7 percent of the total. Only 1 percent have joined with a degree of Master of Arts in Distance Education (MADE) while 7 percent have joined open and distance education system with PGDDE, while 24 percent do not report any special qualification at the time of joining. A deep probe into this category further revealed that 2 percent have acquired this degree after joining i.e. on the job while the other 2 percent obtained their Ph.D. in this area. In the next category of Readers/Associate Professor there is higher number of academic staff i.e. 37 percent of the total academic staff comes in this category. It is a matter of concern that even at this middle level of career only 2 percent of the staff joined with MADE degree and another 4 percent joined the system with PGDDE or DDE. Rest 31 percent of the academic staff had no special training. At senior lecturer there are 5 percent of the staff out of which only 1 percent has joined with special qualifications in distance education.

It is a matter of great satisfaction that at the entry level i.e. Assistant Professors or Lecturers out of 13 percent 8 percent have joined the system with special qualifications i.e. 4 percent with MADE and remaining 4 percent with PGDDE. In other category we included academic staff at Regional Centres. They also joined the system with no special qualification in distance education system. It is true that for working in distance education organizations or institutions no such formal qualifications are required. University staffs are already well qualified in the sense of having studied at postgraduate level. Academics often have a doctorate degree. In higher education no special training is required like schoolteachers.

Total Academic Experience & Experience in DE

		(In percentage)
Years	Total Academic Exp.	Exp. in DE
less than 5	0.94	15.09
6 - 10	11.32	18.87
11- 15	17.92	20.75
16 - 20	19.81	26.42
21 - 25	16.04	9.43
26 - 30	19.81	4.72
31 & above	14.15	4.72
Total	100.00	100.00

Source: Survey dataTable 3

But looking at the special characteristics of open and distance learning and lack of long term professional training among the faculty of these institutes and universities government should consider of making these special qualification as essential qualifications for entry into this system.And for those who are already into the system universities should provide proper staff development and training. Special incentives may be announced for the senior staff doing long-term courses.A study of the total academic experience and experience in distance education system reveals interesting statistics (refer Table 3).

It is evident from table 3 that 70 percent of the academic staff have a total experience of more than 15 years whereas 50 percent have total academic experience of more than 20 years. The corresponding figure in distance education experience is only 19 percent. Most of the staff working in D.E. more than 81 percent has experience of less than 20 years while 55 percent had experience of less than 15 years in distance education system. The staff with less than 15 years of total experience is 30 percent. The data reveals that nearly 50 percent of the academic staff will continue to serve in this system for 15 more years. It is this group that requires special efforts to train them and the initiative will have to be taken from the management side. It will be too optimistic on our part to think that these staff members will show any interest or demand themselves the long-term courses for staff development. Rather than the short-term courses the long-term courses might prove useful. The Dearing Commission U.K. asked eleven questions about staff development, one of which was: should there be a nationally recognized teaching qualification for academic staff? Open and distance education do not feature prominently in these schemes. The conditions are more or less the same even in India. The IGNOU programme run by STRIDE are not in much demand and therefore ways will have to be worked out deliver these programmes to all those who wish to enter in this profession and serve in the area of open and distance learning.

In my opinion these long term programmes PGDDE and M.A. in distance education should be made essential professional qualification. The PGDDE should be made essential for the staff working in conventional Universities and wish to associate with open and distance learning institutions activities like writing course material, counselling or tutoring, making assignments and evaluation of scripts. No paid work of these institutions should be given to non-qualified i.e. non-diploma holders. Similarly all the full-time faculty members should be allowed to join this system only after they devote 2 or more years of study at M.A. in distance education or Ph.D. in distance education with some course work.

Nature of Job

The respondents were asked to report the nature of their job. The options given were administrative, course planning, writing of self learning material (SLM), editing of SLMs, working as counsellors or tutors, evaluation of assignments and answer-books of term-end examinations, preparation of audio and video script and any other job. The respondents were further asked to report whether they have undergone any training for their present job. As the job performed by the staff may be multiple they were asked to tick mark the job and then write their responses about training in the respective columns. The responses have been grouped in table 4

Nature of Job of the Sample Respondents
				(In percentage)
Particulars	Trained	Not Trained	No Response	Total
Administrative	47.17	17.92	34.91	100.00
Course Planning	68.87	6.60	24.53	100.00
Writing SLM	72.64	4.72	22.64	100.00
Editing SLMs	61.32	8.49	30.19	100.00
Counselling/Tutoring	60.38	8.49	31.13	100.00
Evaluation of Assignment & Term End Examination	66.98	7.55	25.47	100.00
Writing Audio Video Script	52.83	12.26	34.91	100.00
Other	24.53	4.72	70.75	100.00

Table 4

It is interesting to note that arrangements for staff development are now more organized and applied to a wider range of staff and addressed to a wider range of issues. All staff in Universities and DDEs/CCIs reported to have been doing the jobs listed in Table 4 have undergone some sort of staff development training. The staffs working at higher levels of administration are actively engaged in management of the institutions. Among those reporting administrative duties 47 percent have received training in the form staff development short duration programmes. In open and distance learning organizations academic staffs also perform administrative jobs in the form of course management and course planning. In open universities a course team consisting of eminent scholars looks after the job of course planning. The course team is called Course Design Committee (CDC) and its convener is the subject head. The CDC plans the syllabi and divides it in lesson units. These lesson units are than allotted to subject experts for course writing. The Open Universities in India generally follow the self-learning material format developed and adopted by IGNOU. It is a matter of great satisfaction that 69 percent of the academic staffs have undergone training and 73 percent of the staffs performing the job of writing self-learning material have received training for their job. In other jobs the percentages of trained staff range from 60 to 70 the least being in audio video script writing at 53 percent. Thus at large trained staffs are managing the affairs in these organizations and institutions.

Training Preference

In the present study we have concentrated on analysis at person level and neglected organizational and institutional levels. The simple reason was that we took it for granted that this exercise has been worked out already at higher management levels and possibly the organization is well aware of its direction and goals.

Training Preference of Academic Staff
						(In percentage)
Activities	Ranks					Total	Mean score
Activities	1	2	3	4	5	Total	Mean score
Preparation of SLM	52.83	18.87	4.72	6.60	16.98	100.00	3.84
Edit of SLM	29.25	33.96	8.49	8.49	19.81	100.00	3.44
Counselling	31.13	30.19	10.38	8.49	19.81	100.00	3.44
Writing Tutor Comments	20.75	36.79	7.55	12.26	22.64	100.00	3.21
Production of A/V Script	47.17	22.64	9.43	5.66	15.09	100.00	3.81
Other	24.53	5.66	3.77	0.94	65.09	100.00	2.24

Source Survey data

Table5

The training needs of individuals as reported by the respondents were marked on a 5 points scale starting from most desirable to desirable, less desirable not desirable and can’t say. Table 5 lists the training areas as the weighted mean score for each area. The table reveals that the most preferred area for training is preparation of SLMs, with a mean score of 3.84 followed by production may be because of the fact that teachers have a dual role as a subject expert and a technology specialist. They like additional training in all areas of distance education.

Contents in training courses

It is important to know that in the areas considered important for training by respondents what should be included so the training programmes remain attractive and the teachers do not loose interest.

Developing Self-Learning Materials (SLM) is a serious business. The purpose of Self-Learning Material is to help learners to learn. Learner’s individual preferences make it extremely difficult to design learning materials for the specific target group. But with a small training a conventional as well as a distance teacher may acquire skills for developing good SLM.

Curriculum Designing and Development

The following Table 6 contains the tasks and the training needs of academic staff who involve themselves in the Curriculum designing and development.

Training Needs in Curriculum Designing and Development

Job/Tasks

Training Needs

† Curriculum Designing and Development

(a) An overview of the nature of Distance Education process of distance teaching learning, open and flexible learning its strength and weaknesses.

(b) Distance Education in India, Resources,
Constraints.

(d) Curriculum designing skills curriculum planning and development.

(e) Media selection and integration.

(f) Conducting needs survey knowledge of Modular forms of courses decision regarding credits it’s meaning.

(g) Unit-wise break-up of the syllabi

(h) Identification of quality control measures and ensures quality.

(i) Provision for practical projects and placement of students.

(j) Correspondence with writers & time scheduling.

Table 6

Curriculum design and development in both conventional and face-to-face teaching or for distance education is a specialized job. It is a process of design and development of macro activities and content areas having impact on a wide range of programmes, courses and curriculum experiences. For designing proper courses it is essential to assess distance learner’s need first, analyse situations and then coordinate with others. While planning a new curricular we need to take into account the following variables.

† Decision regarding whose needs have to be taken into account i.e. students, employers, Government etc.

† Decision has to be taken about teachers/ counsellors involved facilities equipments available and financial resources available.

Once the curriculum plan is ready the next step is to finalize contents. This again is a very specialized job and requires task analysis, specification of goals and objectives and sequencing the contents. This all requires training.

Self Learning Material

It is not easy to produce self-learning material without proper training. In campus based face-to-face institutions, students interact with teachers and use existing reading materials like in ODL system SLMs are written specially for a target group of learners based on their needs and objectives of their course of study. The materials include the teaching functions of a teacher, like dissemination of knowledge, content, motivation explanation, questions, self-learning exercises, feed back and the like. Though Open and Distance Learning (ODL) institutions exclusively use SLMs these may also be used in other conventional education as well as in online virtual class room situations. Writing SLM is a specialized task and uses a combination of approaches like, behaviorist, cognitive, constructivist etc. The SLM has the following features:

† Self Explanatory

† Self Contained

† Self Directed

† Self Motivating

† Self Evaluating

Besides the above characteristics, Prof. Derek Rowntree of UKOU has a few related features of open learning materials viz.;

† These materials have clearly stated objectives.

† There are study guides and advices as to how to study and use these materials.

† The content is presented in conversational style, and therefore user friendly.

† Content are presented in short and manageable chunks for easy understanding.

† Illustrations like tables, graphs, charts etc. are given which better explain the content.

† Linkages within text and with other media are maintained for easy reference and progress.

† Space is provided for learners to workout activities and other questions, and to write down their own ideas; and feedback is provided from time-to-time to check their own progress.

† These materials contain suggestions on related reference materials to go through, people to discuss with, places to be visited, and so on.

† There are access devices like headings introduction and summary and the like which facilitate learners in accessing the materials.

The characteristics described above are built into SLM at the very first stage and a special format is followed informally for the text material of the organization or institute. The decision has to be taken regarding the format to be followed and it requires special training.

The table below gives summary of tasks and training needs for developing SLMs and editing the material:

Training Needs for Self Learning Material Development

Job/Title	Training Needs
1. Course Writer	† Approaches to presentation of text † Educational and teaching strategies † Writing skills † Knowledge of target group and their problems, learning processes, and contents. † Location of resources/materials, ideas, illustrations and testing and evaluation skills. † Preparation of feedback questionnaires. † Decision regarding format to be followed and convincing all contributors about its utility. † Explaining the principles of adult learning. † Art of reviewing the work of other writers, giving comments & accepting comments. † Computers and its uses, word processing MS Office. † World Wide Web, Internet, E-mail.
2. Editing	† Editing skills † Presentation, layout skills † Proof reading skills † Integrating with Multimedia † Knowledge of printing stages † Checking for readability logical flow, sequencing in presentation, placement of examples and illustrations † Language flow, printing technology basics † Internet editing by faculty members for content, structure, sequence difficulty level.

Table 7

Counselling

The very success of the open and distance learning system depends on the performance of the counsellors in the counselling sessions. This is a special skill and requires perfect training. The table below presents the training needs and tasks of a academic counsellors.

Training Needs for Counsellors

Job/Task

Training Needs

Counselor/Tutor

† Knowledge about the open and distance learning philosophy.

† Role and responsibilities of chief coordinators/coordinators.

† Meaning of counseling and his/her role in solving academic problems / personal problems.

† Knowledge of programmes, educational calendar, student support services.

† Skills of a good counselor advising, informing and Empathy.

† Skills in communicating with students.

† Knowledge of writing tutor comments.

† Counselling in Face-to-Face sessions.

† Human relations and qualities of gathering students’ feedback.

† Organizing counseling sessions and corresponding with students.

† Assignment handling & types of Assignments.

† Answering telephone quarries.

† Art of effective communication in phone-in-radio counselling.

† Art of counselling through television.

† Art of video conferencing.

† Addressing and communicating with students using computers & internet

† Knowledge of the role and functions of regional & study centres.

† Handling audio/video equipments at the study centre.

Table 8

The meaning of counseling in educational context is different from its meaning in popular usage. In educational context, Counseling has been defined as the active help and support given to students to enable them to make satisfactory progress in the system. It helps the learners to come out from a stale of indecisions and to resolve his/her confusion or cope with his/her distress. The Counseling in distance education becomes critically important as the counselor and the learner seeking help may not be face-to-face. Counselors help learners in understanding the potential strength or weakness in them and help in solving their personal problems, tensions and also guiding them through their studies, and writing assignments.

The tasks of Counselors are not easy. They have to look into the background of the students, identify core problems and suggest effective solutions so that they may continue their studies. Counselors are expected to make them feel at ease, listen their problems with sympathy, build confidence in them and convince the learners that they are not alone. Their worries are common and despite all problems their learning may continue. Thus a good Counselor has to make a balance and these qualities require patience training of the academic staff.

Production of Audio / Video Script:

One of the most preferred training areas was regarding writing for media and media selection. Two characteristics of media need mention: “essential” and “optional”. The essential media characteristics, which deal with the clarity of the message, necessitate an analysis of various models dealing with media selection relation to learning objectives and a few other aspects of learning. The optional media characteristics deal with quality of the presentation of content. After the identification of educational tasks and media to be used the course coordinator has to take final decision depending upon the budget available. If the expertise for writing media script is not available the services of experts can be hired.

The six step process given below as a summary may be helpful for media selection:

† Decide whether to provide instruction or information (the message);

† Determine the method of transmission (media to support the instructor or to provide self-instruction);

† Determine lesson/content characteristics (cognitive, affective or psychomotor learning);

† Select an initial class of media on the basis of clientele characteristics, local facilities of production, cost (and budget at hand), etc.;

† Analyze media characteristics advantages and disadvantages of each medium in relation to the content to be presented and select the most feasible medium / media; and

† Conduct developmental testing of the medium / media selected at the sixth stage and arrives at the final selection of media for instruction.

Production of audio-video programmes depends on effective teamwork. In any educational media production a whole range of specially trained people with artistic, technical, managerial, communication and other creative skills come together work together and produce programme. Although the work of academic staff is limited only to the writing of script but he should be made conscious of the role-played by all others in the team such as producer, technicians, engineers, cameraman etc. for a better production. Generally academicians do not wish to take help regarding academic content but in media production one has to learn the techniques of mutual assistance and cooperation. These qualities may only come through training and better understanding of the work of other team members.

Opinion about Training Received

It is important to know the opinion of the beneficiaries. The teachers were asked to give their ranking on 5 point scale starting from 1 to 5 i.e. most beneficial, beneficial, less beneficial, not useful and cannot say. The major areas selected for recording the benefits were the same where respondents reported to have undergone training. Irrespective of the status and present job all categories of personnel’s require basic knowledge about the philosophy of distance education system. Their priorities should broadly fit into the overall framework of national priorities. Now it has been decided to increase the share of distance education in higher education to 40 percent in the Tenth Five Year Plan. The target can only be achieved if all concerned work in close coordination and popularize the distance education system. The works of other functional groups are also equally important e.g. the curriculum designers assess the needs of distance learners, design need based curriculum, coordinate with others involved in course development, prepare course outline and suggest suitable learning exercises. The writer decides on content aspect and presentation format i.e. the SLM and obtains feedback on the materials.

The editors check the formats, student aids, layout print, language, flow and overall getup of the printed books. Training has been provided in almost all the areas by various agencies. It is therefore important to record their opinion. The responses have been presented in Table 9. The respondents have expressed that the most beneficial activity for them has been the preparation of SLM, followed by the understanding of philosophy of distance education. The remaining areas have also been proved beneficial to them.

Opinion about Training Received
						(In percentage)
Particulars	Rank					Total	Mean Score
Particulars	1	2	3	4	5	Total	Mean Score
Understanding Philosophy of DE	36.79	19.81	4.72	5.66	33.02	100.00	3.22
Preparation of SLM	40.57	21.70	4.72	3.77	29.25	100.00	3.41
Preparation of Audio/Video Script	25.47	29.25	8.49	2.83	33.96	100.00	3.09
Evaluation of Assignments	27.36	23.58	11.32	6.60	31.13	100.00	3.09
Counselling/Tutoring	26.42	24.53	9.43	7.55	32.08	100.00	3.06
Research	24.53	15.09	10.38	10.38	39.62	100.00	2.75
Others	8.49	3.77	1.89	1.89	83.96	100.00	1.51

Table 9

statement on ranking scale. Only those respondents who indicated “most beneficial” and “beneficial” were considered as positive towards training while respondents reporting “less beneficial” and “not useful” were considered negative. The fifth response can’t say were considered to have no opinion and were dropped for drawing the figure.

Rating Table

Most beneficial
Beneficial
Less beneficial
Not useful

Six items on the questionnaire were mentioned to record the opinion about the training received. Almost 67 percent of the academic staff reported to have drawn benefits from staff development and training. It has improved the quality of the job they perform (refer table 10)

Benefits of Staff Development Programmes
			(In percentage)
Particulars	Yes	No	No Reply	Total
1. In improving the quality of my job	66.98	15.09	17.92	100.00
2. By imparting training in information technology/ computer applications	36.79	44.34	18.87	100.00
3. In Improving my qualification	18.87	62.26	18.87	100.00
4. In personal and professional development	65.09	16.98	17.92	100.00
5. By providing vocational training	21.70	59.43	18.87	100.00
6. Any other such as team work, equal opportunity etc.	21.70	59.43	18.87	100.00

Table 10

It also means that faculty generally think that they lack competences in producing self instruction or self learning material and writing audio/video script for distance learners and training helps in personal and professional development. In other areas academic staff have not taken sufficient benefit e.g. in ICT and Computer application only 37% of the participants reported to have drawn benefits and 44 percent gave negative responses. Staff development programme are not seen as a tool for improving personal qualification as much as 62 percent gave negative responses for this question. On the whole 20 percent of the staff gave no opinion about the benefits drawn.

It is also important to know the faculty preference for place of training. Often the employer is concerned with the work loss during training and therefore opposes outside training. But it is quite significant that 53 percent of the academic staff prefer work place based training.

The data have been presented with the help of a pie-diagram. It is quite revealing that only 33 percent of the respondents wish to go for staff development programmes outside their work place and 8 percent had no clear choice and are ready to receive training anywhere i.e. at work place or outside the work place.

Motivation and Attitude towards Training Programmes

More than 200 years ago Adam Smith argued that the incentive to invest in worker’s skill are similar to the incentive to invest in Physical capital. Academic staff or the universities invest in skills if the benefits or ‘returns’ from this investment exceed its cost. These investments manifest themselves in increased worker productivity. When teachers receives the returns from investment in skills their benefits rise. When Universities receive the recognition in the form of increased student strength and good name for producing quality material they will be willing to invest more and more in training and staff development. The staff development programmes workshops and training is a kind of creation of human capital and the investment made in them will produce better educated distance educators. It is matter of great satisfaction that 79 percent of the respondents showed most responsible attitude towards staff development programmes

The Figure 5 shows that the people are not indifferent toward training. It also implies that academic staff working in open and distance education institutions anticipate higher gains and better prospects in this system. This is a welcome sign for the future growth of the system and we may expect more academically able persons will join the system than their counterparts in conventional system.

Facilities for Training

Training facilities are available in India at IGNOU for all the activities essential for distance education. During initial years IGNOU organized training programme for its staff in collaboration with UKOU and BBC. These programmes included short-term training modules ranging from 3 days to one week mainly for writing self instructional material. IGNOU staff were mainly trained in house through short duration courses while the staff from correspondence institutions and DDEs received training either at IGNOU or State Open Universities. Respondents were asked to report the facilities they think available in their organization. The responses are presented in Table 11.

Facilities Available in the Organization
			(In percentage)
Facilities	%age of Respondent giving positive response	%age of Respondent giving negative response	Indifferent/ Can't say	Total
Theoretical aspects of Distance Education	61.32	30.19	8.49	100.00
Preparation of SLMs	73.58	17.92	8.49	100.00
Preparation of Audio Cassettes	55.66	35.85	8.49	100.00
Preparation of Video programmes	50.00	41.51	8.49	100.00
Management and Administration of DE system	47.17	44.34	8.49	100.00
Production & Management of on line programmes	37.74	53.77	8.49	100.00
Organization of Student Support services counselling / Tutoring	66.98	24.53	8.49	100.00
Examination and Evaluation of assignment	64.15	27.36	8.49	100.00
Research & Development	56.60	33.02	10.38	100.00

Table 11

It can be studied from table 11 that 74 percent of the respondents feel that the training facilities for the development of SLM are available in their own organization followed by the students support services i.e. counseling/tutoring 67 percent, examination and evaluation of assignments 64 percent and to provide training about theoretical aspects of distance education (61 percent). The training for audio video production is lacking & nearly half of the respondents reported that this facility was not available in their organization. The area, which needs highest attention, now is production and management of online courses using World Wide Web and Internet.

The possible reason for higher percentage of respondents reporting availability is due to the training they have acquired on-the-job. Teachers have acquired these skills informally by trial and error method by watching their seniors, friends or to those who have received training through short duration courses. In spite of the survey reporting we know that proper training facilities are still lacking in the open universities in the country.

To meet the task of staff development the Division of Distance Education was set up in IGNOU in 1986. It was upgraded to Staff Training and Research Institute of Distance Education (STRIDE) in 1993 with support from COL. Development of Self Instructional Material (SIM) was given the highest priority by STRIDE in the staff development programme organized by it. By 1995 through 14 training-cum-development workshops all the academic staff in the University was trained. During initial years it invited resource persons from UKOU later on in house facilities were used.

At YCMOU, Nashik recognizing the need for built-in-mechanism for staff development Centre for Training (CFT) was established under Academic Services Division. The centre conducts training programmes for its staff. In 1993 the centre organized an induction programme for newly inducted staff in various schools. The centre has made comprehensive list of role played by academic staff in the University. Vardhaman Mahaveer Open University, Kota (formerly known as Kota Open University, Kota) also established STRIDE in December 1999 for regular in-house training of its academic and supporting staff. It conducts short-term training programme for the University part-time and full-time staff.

It is a matter of great satisfaction that most of the academic staff in open and distance education system has now been trained. For the healthy growth of this system what we need now is to train the staff in face-to-face conventional education system. All of them need general orientation in distance education. This orientation programme should acquaint the teachers in traditional system about the philosophy and characteristics of distance education and its merits such as flexibility and learner centeredness, role of academic and supporting staff and the quality study material and its special format, use of multimedia and its benefits in introducing two-way interaction. The teachers in conventional or traditional system should be properly trained in the curriculum design and development, writing course material and evaluation of assignments. This training will help them the importance of this system and they may stop criticizing this mode and treating it as a “poor cousin” of the conventional system. Now the time has come when it should be projected as an improvement and advancement over the traditional class-room teaching system. The teachers should convince the students that now the whole country has become a classroom and that the university will reach them rather than they reach the university. The future success of distance education programmes in our country will depend upon the training of the teachers in conventional classroom face-to-face teaching system because these are the persons who really implement the idea at grass root level.

Aknowledgement

This article is based on the research study “Need assessment and Strategy of Academic Staff Development in Open and Distance Education in India” undertaken with the help from financial grants from DEC IGNOU New Delhi. The objective was to obtain feedback and to identify training preferences of academic staff.

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[2] McGehee, W and Thayer, P.W. (1961) Training in business and Industry, New York, Wiley quoped in ES 319 op. cit. pp. 51

Economics Commerce & Management - Prof. Ghadoliya

Monday, February 12, 2018