Enhanced Quality and Success in Sri Lankan non-University Institutions through intermediary and Innovative approaches involving hybridised ODL Methodologies

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Date
2010-11
Authors
Oleap Fernando, J N
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Abstract

The author has been involved since 1979 in teaching Chemistry at the B Sc degree level to students in two nonconventional programmes . He has also been involved for 44 years of his academic career in teaching Chemistry to B Sc students in many conventional Universities in Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea. Over the past four decades varied experiences have been thus obtained in both “teacher centered” and “student centered” teaching/learning approaches to a wide spectrum of students in many tertiary level programmes. This paper discusses the results of studies conducted over five years with a view to enhance quality and success in a non-University Sri Lankan institution , namely the College of Chemical Sciences(CCS) of the Institute of Chemistry Ceylon ,which is the professional body catering to the profession of Chemistry in Sri Lanka. The 32 year old Graduateship Programme of the CCS at an academic level equivalent to an Honours Degree in Chemistry from a University has now become an integral part of Sri Lanka’s tertiary educational scenario: it not only produces the largest number of Graduate Chemists in Sri Lanka but also passes out as many as are produced by all the Sri Lankan Universities put together. Intermediary and innovative approaches involving hybridized and mixed ODL Methodologies have been adopted to enhance quality and success at the CCS. The author has used his 25 year old experience in distance education at the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL) to strengthen ODL by consolidation & coordination of experiences in teaching Chemistry into a more productive teaching/learning mode that makes use an optimal mix of the finer elements of ODL and face to face instruction.

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Subject
Open and Distance Learning (ODL),Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM),Teaching and Learning Methods,Quality Assurance
Country
Sri Lanka
Region
Asia
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