Quality Assurance in ODL Institutions

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.