competencies of academic counsellors

16
Open Learning | Vol. 20, No. 2 | June 2005 | pp. 147- 159 Roles and competencies of academic counsellors in distance education Sanjaya Mishra Indira Gandhi National Open University, India

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2k60205: A presentation of my paper published in Open Learning. This was awarded Silver medal by IGNOU for best reserch in 2006

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Page 1: Competencies of Academic Counsellors

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

Page 2: Competencies of Academic Counsellors

Structure

• Introduction

• Review of literature

• Methodology

• Results

• Discussion

• Conclusion

Page 3: Competencies of Academic Counsellors

Introduction

• Learner support

• The study Identifies roles and competencies of

academic counsellors in distance education

• SignificanceTool to develop appropriate training

materials and strategies

Page 4: Competencies of Academic Counsellors

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

Page 5: Competencies of Academic Counsellors

Review of literature (Fig)

Page 6: Competencies of Academic Counsellors

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

Page 7: Competencies of Academic Counsellors

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

Page 8: Competencies of Academic Counsellors

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

Page 9: Competencies of 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

Page 10: Competencies of Academic Counsellors

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

Page 11: Competencies of Academic Counsellors

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

Page 12: Competencies of Academic Counsellors

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

Page 13: Competencies of Academic Counsellors

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

Page 14: Competencies of Academic Counsellors

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…

Page 15: Competencies of Academic Counsellors

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

Page 16: Competencies of Academic Counsellors

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