ODL-Major Transition, Challenges & Future Trends in Univ of Mumbai

Hemlata Chari PhDUniversity of Mumbai

1/12/2011

IntroductionThis session is in Three PhasesFirstly a brief introduction on India and Higher

Education in IndiaSecond Phase is on Maharashtra-Regional hubThird phase walks through the University of

Mumbai Current trends and Challenges in ODLIDOL-A department of University of Mumbai and

its present role in Implementing ODL-OER for a M.A Education program

Theme: OER

M.A (Education) student’s training through ODL : The University of Mumbai Experience

Challenges and Achievements Theme: OER , M.A EducationSub Theme: Implementing Online

learning using OER & MOODLE

INDIAIndia is a country of diversityPresent scenario of higher education is

overwhelming.Second populous country of the worldGrowing imbalance between the intake of

students and those seeking admissionsIndia follows a 10+2+3 pattern in Education

Historical Background of IndiaAfter 1947, the post-independent

state promoted education as an instrument of social development.

As a result both the central and the state governments encouraged the establishment of universities and colleges in their areas of jurisdiction.

Contd---

Today there are around 300 universities and equivalent institutions together with 13,000 colleges with 8.8 million students.

Though such an expansion has democratized higher education, (40 per cent of students are from low socio-economic strata together with 35 per cent being women).

This has increased the reservoir of scientific and technical professionals, it has given rise to numerous problems including the most important of them all: state dependence for funding.

India is the current hub for technological growth

Higher Education at Crossroads

Implications for Higher Education

Social entrepreneurship in education on the rise

Ground-up developments can impact institutionalized, top-down processes

New incentives necessary for established players

– New qualifications?– What of quality?

GlobalizationGlobalization has changed radicallythe structure of higher education as the

trade in this service nowcrosses national boundaries. Earlier education encouraged the

movement of people across borders. Thus in order to access quality education, there was migration outside underdeveloped regions such as India.

Now education migrates from its location to new locations in search of partners for collaboration.

This change affects not only the organizational structure of institutions of higher education, especially in countries like India, but also the way institutions of higher education perceive education, and thus reorganize their authority structure.

In the case of India ONE should consider the changes in the shift in demand for applied education especially in IT & Computer Science areas as an opportunity .

Since globalization is inevitable , India is looking to build on the existing resources. IT thus has a positive impact on a country like India wherein education is limited to few.

Main Objective to enforce TechnologyIt acts as a catalyst in expanding the

potential users of higher education, because as a technology it has a potential to make education truly democratic, and give opportunity to students in remote areas and from deprived communities to have access to education.

Mobile is one such device that has reached almost every house in India

Growth of Distance EducationFive StagesCorrespondence-printPrint + Audio+TelevisionSatellite based educationComputer -internet based educationOpen Educational Resources- Using

various resources

Influence of Peters model in IndiaPeter(1998) revisited his theory of

industrialization.Peters looks at globalizationPeter asserts that there is a need to

balance the teaching-learning processHence a learner centered approach

Peters model of Industrialization suits the Indian condition.

Currently India has 13 open Universities plus one National Open University-IGNOU

221 Distance Education Institutes,Catering to mass population of students

who opt for distance education

The Third Generation: the freedom cultureThird Generation of Distance Education refers

to the Freedom CultureFreedom to useFreedom to studyFreedom to redistributeFreedom to modify and reshape Richard Stallman

MaharashtraTotal Population in Maharashtra— one

croreOne Open University -YCMOUMostly catering to the regional populationHence Dual Language of Delivery-English

and MarathiCities that contribute effectively in Higher

Education: Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Mumbai and Aurangabad

MaharashtraThird largest state in India with about 1.2

Billion population.Literacy ate-7.0%Highly Industrialized state, Financial capital of

India2/3RD is farming Mumbai-State capitalPopulation-approximately one million people

MumbaiUniversity of Mumbai-the oldest 154 years old

SNDT Women’s University is a women’s university

www.mu.ac.in

University of Mumbai

54 Departments in its fort and Kalina campus

IDOL is a distance education institute affiliated to the University of Mumbai

Our Vice Chancellor’s vision of integrating Technology based teaching learning

Making the university a paperless university

IDOL14 PROGRAMSAPPROXIMATELY 80,000 STUDENTSONLY COMMERCE stream has AROUND 15,000Challenges in dissemination , creating course materials

translation and evaluation/ assessment.Started online admission and hope to conduct online

examination for few professional coursesMismatch between the available full time academic

staff on campus with those of student’s taking admissions

Implementing ODL in Teacher Education-IDOL

. Teacher education has seen tremendous transformation in the use of Technology, specially with colleges offering B.Ed programs in English.

This is supported by investment in ICT-projects supposed to strengthen student teachers active learning processes.

The off-campus-students face problems with understanding the purpose of collaborating on-line with students they met every day and also with participating in learning activities in an asynchronous situation.

In Maharashtra the numbers of students registered for Graduation program in regional Language is high

There is difficulty faced in getting the course materials translated in Marathi the regional language. The other major concern is most of the international reference books are in English; it is difficult for them to enhance their skills and understanding in the subject area.

SPECIALLY WITH REFERENCE TO RESEARCH

IDOL (Institute of Distance and Open Learning),University of Mumbai has proposed to collaborate with IIT-Mumbai to engage students actively a group of students teachers actively by incorporating spoken tutorials , OER & MOODLE in the second year of their Post graduation program in the area of Open and Distance Learning.

ODL-OER,MOODLERecently IDOL have started training of

faculties using OER for development of course materials.

Number of workshops and training programs are held.

Implementing online teaching from Dec 7th our M.A Education course goes online

Maintaining Quality in implementing ODL-

Challenges facedInfrastructurePower in semi urban areasTrained facultiesTechnical support systemStudents Issues and ConcernsDual modeVisit to main campus for getting hall tickets,

study materials—Lack of materials in Marathi

Future/VisionIn a short time after taking over as Vice

Chancellor (VC), our current VC has taken a number of effective steps in the implementation of ODL.

He was earlier the VC of YCMOU-Nashik where he has made tremendous change in DE

Implementing Interdisciplinary subjectsCollaborations with foreign university one

major collaboration recently took place is with China.

Open Educational Resources a major step in the right direction

References

Chari & Haughey(2006) Administrative & Implementations Issues at YCMOU-An Indian Open University, pp 8-10

Peters O (1998) DE in a post industrial society. In D.Keegan (Ed) :theoritical principles of de, London: Routledge

www.mu.ac.inwww.mu.ac.in/idolEclipse.mu.ac.inMagnum.mu.ac.in