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Quality Assurance in ODL Institutions
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Abstract
The quality concerns of the ODL pioneers at the initial stages
of the innovation called ODL (associated with the establishment
of the British Open University in 1969) were focused on its
socio-academic credibility vis-à-vis the time honored face-to face system of learning/teaching, wherein standards, not quality,
was the watchword—adequate institutional infrastructure,
appropriately qualified staff and in relation to a programme on
offer, prescribed entrance qualifications, curricular content,
duration of studies, a scheme of educational transactions and a
scheme of learner evaluation reflected the standards. ODL
institutions, under pressure to gain a foothold on the
conventional turf, towed the line, but lost no time in identifying
new criteria—i) the process of developing course materials, ii)
the nature of course materials themselves, iii) the provision
and practice of learner support services including the nature of
pedagogic transaction/interaction and iv) flexibility in relation
to entrance qualifications—to redefine standards in their
fledgling enterprise. The last two of these continue to be
questioned in circles/societies that find it difficult to see the
paradigmatic shifts that have been taking place in the institution,
philosophy and purpose of education over the past four
decades.
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Region
Asia
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Date
2007
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Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA)