competencies of academic counsellors
DESCRIPTION
2k60205: A presentation of my paper published in Open Learning. This was awarded Silver medal by IGNOU for best reserch in 2006TRANSCRIPT
Open Learning | Vol. 20, No. 2 | June 2005 | pp. 147-159
Roles and competencies of academic counsellors in distance education
Sanjaya MishraIndira Gandhi National Open University, India
Structure
• Introduction
• Review of literature
• Methodology
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusion
Introduction
• Learner support
• The study Identifies roles and competencies of
academic counsellors in distance education
• SignificanceTool to develop appropriate training
materials and strategies
Review of literature
• Academic counsellors are link between the learners and the university
• They perform a variety of roles: tutors, advisors, and assessors, etc.
• Review grouped into three parts: cognitive, affective and systemic
Review of literature (Fig)
Academic counsellors role at IGNOU
• Personal point of contact for the distance learner
• Provide tuition in person and at a distance
• Evaluate assignments and provide feedback
• Help distance learners by: Initiating them to self learning Confirming positive learning Identifying negative learning and provide
remedial measuresProviding non-print interventions
Methodology
• Questionnaire based Roles and competencies identified Content validity of the questionnaire
ascertained Distributed to a randomly selected group
of academic counsellors in a Regional Centre using sample size determination tale of Krejcie and Morgan (1970)
• Response rate was 30.3 per cent
• Response bias test for gender revealed no difference in the male and female responses in accordance with the population and the distributes sample
• Descriptive and inferential statistics used for analysis
Methodology (cont’d…)
Male Female Total
Population 496 188 677
Sample 180 65 245
Used/ Returned 53 21 74
Test of homogeneity: 0.102
• Limitations
Context specific
Non-tech environment
Still the results are useful as a generic tool for organizing training for academic counsellors
Results
Age Groups
2
13
911
24
6
25
2
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
21-25 26-30 31-35 35-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 56-60 61-65
Age range
Fre
qu
ency
Disciplines
50.00
27.03
10.81
8.114.05
Social Science
Humanities
Sciences
Management
Engg. & Tech.
Counselling Experience
71.62
20.27
8.11
1-5 years
5-10 years
11-15 years
Training Received and Need
27.03
72.97
89.19
5.41 5.41
0102030405060708090
100
Yes No Yes No Can'tsay
Perc
en
tag
e
Recived Needed
Results (cont’d…)
Roles of academic counsellors
Roles Percentage Weighted score
Rank
Assessor 98.6 386 2
Coach 94.6 379 3
Counsellor 98.6 432 1
Demonstrator 83.8 318 7
Mentor 90.5 333 5
Supervisor 97.3 331 6
Tutor 98.6 373 4
Results (cont’d…)
Five top competencies
Rank Competencies Frequency
1 Knowledge of subject/ discipline
74
2 Willingness to learn new approaches to teaching and learning
73
3 Knowledge about how distance education works
72
4 Knowledge of evaluation methods and principles
71
5 Skills to assess the learning outcomes/ assignment responses
70
Results (cont’d…)
ANOVA for self-rating of competencies and independent variables
Variables df F value
Gender 1 .424
Age groups 8 2.272*
Teaching experience 7 .419
Experience as academic coounsellor
2 .746
Training in DE 1 7.335**
* Significant at 95% confidence level with p value 2.02
** Significant at 95% confidence level with p value 3.92
Discussion
• IGNOU Experience• Only 27 % received some sort of training• Only 2 competencies are satisfactory• 89.2 % agree on need for training• Mid-value on other competencies• Top 4 roles (counsellor, assessor,coach,
and tutor) cover 26 competencies
Discussion (cont’d…)
• Level of competencies differed amongst age groups, though the F value is little over significance
• 81.2% recognize the need for training, which is contrary to what others believe…
• Face to face training is still going on though others have moved ahead using new modes…
Discussion (cont’d…)
List of generic competencies for academic counsellors
Knowledge requirements• Basic concepts and processes of distance education• Multimedia approaches in distance education• Institutional procedures and systems• Needs of adult learners• Further education opportunities/jobs in a discipline
Skill development• Balance of the demand of the discipline and the needs of the learner• Presentation techniques• Interpersonal skills• Listening skills• Questioning skills
Practitioner learning• Willingness to learn new approaches to teaching and learning• Openness to new ideas
Conclusion
• The 12 generic competencies can be used to develop training materials and programmes
• Evidence-based certification can be a possible way to train huge number of counsellors using technology
• Further research in this area required