COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CLIMATE OF OPENNESS
OF CORESPONDENCE COURSES IN ORISSA AND IGNOU
Kalpalata Patri
INTRODUCTION
Initially
christened as correspondence courses
and now developed to distance education and open learning system, the concept
has become an important alternative of higher education. In developing as well
as developed countries higher education is beset with a variety of problems,
i.e finance, quantitative demand, instructional quality, catering to variety of
needs and relevance etc. In order to answer all these problems and to make
equality of educational opportunity a success we have to adopt distance
education as an alternative strategy and develop it to a mass movement. To
develop huge human recourse potentials available in
OBJECTIVES
*To
study the existing openness in correspondence courses and IGNOU as perceived by
students of respective institutions.
*To
compare the levels of openness between correspondence courses and IGNOU with
reference to Orissa.
*To
study the preferred futures of openness between CC and IGNOU as perceived by
students of distance education towards 2005.
HYPOTHESIS
There
will be no significant difference between the level of openness in CC and
IGNOU.
METHODOLOGY
The
sample for the present study constituted of 165 IGNOU students and 235
correspondence students of Utkal and Berhampur University of Orissa. They were
selected from study centers and contact program centers.
Tools
The
data were collected by administering the “Institution Closeness – Openness Scale”
developed by the authors. The institution Closeness Openness Scale consists of
25 dimensions. The alternatives are given in a continuum from least openness to
complete openness with a 5 point scale. Against each component, the characteristics
of closeness- openness continuum have been specifically mentioned in a 5 points
scale, for instance on case of course choice dimension the alternative read as
(i) No openness- whole course compulsory (ii) openness to some extent- a particular
course with a few optional combinations (iii) Moderate openness- equal weight
to major and minor papers (iv)High –openness credit system , courses with
common core paper and large number of optional papers on modular and credit
basis (v) Extreme openness – entire course including wide rang of optional
papers on modular and credit basis.
Scoring Procedure
Weightage
was given on the basis of ascending order of openness of 1 to 5 with 1
indicating least openness 2 openness to some extent , 3 moderate openness , 4
high openness , and 5 complete openness.
ANYLYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
Mean
scores of each dimension were calculated for CC and IGNOU respectively
following criteria was fixed for data analysis. Above 4.50 - Complete openness
3.50 to 4.49-High openness 2.50 to 3.49- Moderate openness 1.50to 2.49 –
openness to some extent Below 1.5 –least openness. The critical ratio test was
used for analyzing the data in the context of the second objective. The interpretations
of the results are presented as under.
Dimension wise comparison of present and
future status of openness of CC &IGNOU in terms of mean value
The
study covered 25 dimensions of openness: 1. Learner’s intake; 2. Entrance
Policy; 3. Seats Availability; 4. Objectives of Learning; 5. Counseling & guidance;
6. Learning Materials; 7. Methods of
teaching; 8. Course Structure; 9. Course Choice; 10. Course Content; 11. Media;
12. Place of study; 13. Attendance; 14. Entry Time; 15. Time of Completion; 16.
Time Table; 17. Method of Assessment; 18. Type of Assessment; 19. Feed Back;
20. Date of Assessment; 21. Coverage of Assessment; 22. Support System; 23. Place
of Support System; 24. Mode of Support; and 25.Destination. Dimension wise
comparison of present and future status of openness of CC &IGNOU in terms
of mean value found that the students of IGNOU have perceived all the 25
dimensions as open to some extent (Mean values above 1.50 to 2.49) in contrast
students of DCC have perceived no openness in all the 25 dimensions of openness
closeness scale (Mean values ranges from 1.00 to 1.26) .This reveals that
correspondence courses offered by DCC has remained mostly conservative. Though
mean values in case of entrance policy (1.22) time of completion (1.22, mode of
support system 1.26) and feedback (1.21) comes almost openness to some extent
but it does not distinctly differentiate correspondence education to that of
formal education. Flexibility is the important characteristics of distance mode
which is not maintained in correspondence centers in the State of
As
stated above the t-test was applied to study the significance of difference of
mean scores of openness closeness scale as responded by 165 IGNOU students and
235 correspondence students. The critical ratio values on different dimensions were
tabulated. It was observed that in case of all the 25 dimensions perceived
value of openness by IGNOU and CC students significantly differs from each
other at 0.5 as well as 0.1 level. Further concerned mean score on openness criteria
for IGNOU were found to be higher on an average than those of DCC.From above
analysis it can be concluded that there existed significant difference between
the openness of mean scores of IGNOU and
DCC with 99% level of confidence. Hence the null hypothesis of no significance difference between the
openness mean scores of IGNOU and DCC is rejected. It is ultimately revealed
that the status of openness of correspondence courses offered by the
directorate of correspondence courses of Utkal and Berhampur University Orissa
is least open. Correspondence courses offered by traditional Universities have
not been able to shed the shackles of rigidity, closeness and non-flexibility
of the parent institution. It has just risen above the traditional system to
cater to the needs of students who for some reason or other fail to get them
admitted in traditional higher education. On the other hand IGNOU has opened up
satisfactorily and significantly for its clientele as per perception of DE
learners. But the high objectives and ideals for which IGNOU was opened has not
been satisfactorily achieved its openness is really unimpressive. Hence, there
is a need to assess and revitalize the institution so that open learning system
becomes successful.
Students
Perceptions of Preferred Future
The
students of CC as well as IGNOU were asked about the preferred future regarding
the openness of institution towards 2005 AD in Orissa. It was observed that CC
students preferred high openness in future (Mean values 3.56 to 3.93) in all
the 25 dimensions. On the other hand IGNOU students’ preference ranges from
high level to complete openness. The IGNOU students preferred high openness in
majority dimensions (20 out of 25) such as learners intake, entrance policy,
seats availability, objectives of learning, counseling and guidance, learning
material, methods of teaching, course structure, course choice, course content,
media, place of study, attendance, entry time, time completion, time table,
method of assessment, date of assessment, place of support system and
destination (Mean values from 3.52 to 4.49 complete openness in rest six
dimensions such as type of assessment,
feedback, support system ,mode of support system and coverage of assessment
(Mean values 4.5 above). Students of CC perceived the present status as
non-openness and expect to be highly open in future. Similarly, students of
IGNOU perceived the present status as openness to some extent while preferring
the futures from highly open complete openness. To conclude it can be said that
both the groups of students are not satisfied the less openness existing in
their institutions and preferred higher degree of openness in future.
CONCLUSION
From
the above analysis of result it is seem that both the groups of students of CC
and IGNOU are very much optimistic about the future of distance education in
Orissa. It is a sign of positive indication. Educational planners and
administrators of distance education system may take it into account for
fulfillment of students’ expectations.