Learner Support Initiatives in Course Delivery: A Case Study of the Course Applied Statistics III by S. Muchengetwa Abstract Distance learning institutions all over the world have been tasked up to come with policies and procedures that accommodate the ever- growing numbers of learners and at the same time the learners are putting more pressure on institutions to give them better services. The success of students in any environment is dependent on the support they are provided. The support is even more important in open and distance learning (ODL) environments because there is no regular face-to-face interaction. It is not surprising that therefore that learner support is one of the aspects most talked about and it includes processes intended to support and facilitate the learning process of the students which includes. tutoring, teaching, counselling, advising, orientation, administrative services and even peer tutoring and alumni support. This is aggravated by the fact that the student is studying at a distance and how is the institution able to effectively interact with such a learner? The purpose of the paper is to explore the characteristics and needs of the learner and to design a range of activities to assist learners to meet their learning objectives and be able to acquire the knowledge useful in course and career success. The study specifically focused on one carefully selected course, which has been characterised by among other things by low pass rates, low learner-learner interaction, low learner – content interaction and low learner-tutor interaction. The course is a third year module which is also enroled for non-degree purposes by students from government departments and industry. Introduction Most developing nations have been having problems in providing mass access to higher education institute for its citizens. Most countries in Africa have suffered from wars since most of them had to gain independence through liberation struggle. This affected most citizens in terms of educational qualifications. Most of the people had been denied the right to education. After independence, there was high thirsty for tertiary education qualifications. Conventional universities could only absorb a few students. Open and distance learning (ODL) opened the doors for many people who wanted to acquire tertiary education. It has attracted so many people because of its accessibility and affordability. Many people like to pursue their education through ODL since they can study at their own pace whilst sustaining their families among other reasons. Educational institutes have been faced with the challenges that governments and taxpayers want more demonstrated benefits to their investments. There is now need for increased accountability of performance of universities and greater focus is on their outputs. Recently the ministry has now adopted a policy where subsidies offered to universities depend on output rather than number of students enrolled. This has put pressure on universities to look at their retention rates, pass rates and through puts rate, in an endeavour to increase number of graduating students. On the other hand students are more demanding on services and support offered by the institutes. Idaye (2005) said that ODL institutions could help provide mass access, reduce the cost of university education, help meet the yearnings of the individuals for university admission and help rebuild confidence in those struggling for places in conventional universities. All these do not guarantee success. The most challenging issue is to find appropriate delivery methods that will help assure and ensure both success and completion for the majority of learners. A particularly interested aspect of distance learning is the development of systems that aid in supporting the learner to achieve his/her goal called learner support systems. What is learner support? Brindley et. al (2003) says learner support is a term used in ODL to describe a full range of activities developed to help students meet their learning objectives and gain the knowledge requisite to course and career success. Thorpe (2001) describes learner support as all those elements capable of responding to a known learner or groups of learners, before, during and after the learning process. She views learner support in ODL as referring to the meeting of needs that all learners have because there are central to high quality learning – guidance about course choice, preparatory diagnosis, study skills, access to group learning in seminars and tutorials. Tait (2000) define it as the range of services both for individuals and for students in groups which complement the course materials or learning resources that are uniform for all learners. In this case, Tait views learner support, as all those processes that assist in enhancing the learning process of the student. Hui (1989) sees learner support as the support incorporated within the self training materials, the learning system and assignment marking, focusing very specifically on the courseware, the exercise of learning and assessment. From the above definitions, one can say that learner support in ODL refers to the process intended to support and facilitate the learning processes of students. These are meeting of needs of the learner that are central to high quality learning. It includes interactive processes learning helping students from point the student enters the system, that include admission and registration, tutoring, teaching and counselling, advising, orientation, administrative services and even peer tutoring and alumini access. This refers to the preparatory process or the student, the nurturing of the student in the system and the graduateness of the student. Sewart (1992) likens learner support to a service industry in which the needs of the customer are paramount. It is a process in which the learner customer must participate actively as well as the tutor/supporter. Learner support elements Robinson(1995) indicated that the main goals of learner support include: providing interactivity and dialogue personalising a mass system mediating between learner and materials institutional responsiveness to individuals differentiation of support according to different needs with diverse ways of achieving them He went on to describe the essential elements for learner support as personal contact between learners and support agents (people in variety of roles with variety of titles). Individual or group face-to-face or via other means. Peer contact. Feedback to students on their learning. Additional material such as handbooks, advice notes or guides. Study groups and centers – actual or virtual (electronics). Access to libraries, laboratories and equipment. Communication networks An analysis of Robinson’s goals and elements as articulated by Roberts indicates a challenge to institutions to know their students profile establish what their needs are decide how to meet the differing needs using different tools to address needs Brindley et. al (2003) indicated that effective learner support in ODL is characterised by the following elements: Responsiveness:- It personalizes the learning process so as to be responsive to different individuals and groups (rather than relying on fixed elements such as a course syllabus). Interactivity: It encourages and facilitates interaction among and between student(s), faculty, tutor, institutional support persons and academic content. Context Specificity: It exists to further the goals of a particular institution and serves the needs of its learners within its specific context. Learner Development: It both facilitates learning within courses and addresses broader issues of student skill and personal development. Openness to Change: Learner support systems evolve continuously to accommodate new learner populations, educational developments, economic conditions, technological advances, and findings from research and evaluation. Integration: Effective learner support involves a high level of inter-functional collaboration and is seamless to the learner. The course: Applied Statistics III (Course code: STA3701) Applied Statistics III is a third level module that feeds into a 24 credit research module in which the outcome is a research proposal. The module assume that the students have a solid basic knowledge of statistical applications based on completion of first and second level modules in applied statistics. The module reintroduce students to the statistical software package SAS JMP learned in the second year course Applied Statistics II, (course code STA2601). It focuses on data analysis and statistical inference, and teaches student how to apply and interpret results using JMP. This means that students should have access to a suitable computer for a component of practical work. The purpose of the module is to enable students to demonstrate an understanding of one- and two way analysis of variance, fixed effects, mixed models, simple and multiple linear regression as well as analysis of covariance. This combination is normally referred to as analysis of variance and regression. Analysis of variance plays a very important part in applied statistics and statistical inference and has many applications in the fields of business, agriculture, biology, physical sciences and many more. Government departments and people from industry enrol for the module as a nondegree programme. The module has been experiencing low pass rates. The module was being handled by a contract worker not easily accessible to the students and at times to the department. There was no prescribed textbook for the module and the study guide lacked adequate examples. Where examples were given there was no detailed illustration of how the answers were obtained. There was also lack of congruency between formative and summative assessment. Students were given assignments which were not in line with the trial paper. The trial paper was being repeated year after year. Thus those repeating the course were subjected to the same trial paper. It was not serving its intended purpose. Secondly it is a practical course and students were not given the opportunity to interpret outputs in the examination. In the early days when the course was formulated, students used to do practical sessions and this ceased in 2006. Methodology The researcher used a qualitative case study approach to explore the characteristics and needs of the learners. A case study approach enables one to study a particular individual program or event in depth, for a define period of time. (Leedy and Omrod (2005)). It allows one to learn more about a poorly understood situation. In this case it was used so that best practices of learner support identified are used as a basis in other courses. The research was based on learner support elements as proposed by Robinson (1995) and Brindley et. al (2003). Purposive sampling was used to select the students. The lecturer interacted with students as they communicated with her through myUnisa, email, telephone or when visiting the lecturer. The lecturer discussed with the students the problems they were experiencing in the course and also ask what they recommended as learners will be the best practices to enhance their learning. Following best practices discussed a plan of action was devised: 1. Identification of learner characteristics by interaction with students (face-toface, email, discussion forums, and telephone conservations). 2. Identification of student needs through interviewing students who were repeating the module first then followed with others students during the end of the first half. 3. Devised an implementation plan referred to as developmental plan. Analysis of Data The analysis covered best practices for learner support which includes knowing learner characteristics, identifying learner needs, making decision on how to meet the learners’ needs and using different tools to address the needs. Learner characteristics identified: The following characteristics were identified: Some students lacked focus. Inadequate background knowledge. Poor time management. Lack of interaction between learners (e.g. no group discussions or utilisation of discussion forum on myUnisa). Feelings of isolation (especially students outside Pretoria and Johannesburg). Low motivational levels. Learner not seeing face of the lecturer. Difficulties in understanding the study material (lack of well explained and applied examples). Social constraints. Learner needs identified: The following needs were identified: Study guide with well illustrated examples that talk to the learners. New problems each year (no repetition of trial paper year after year). Responsiveness – need for the institution to be responsive to the learner. Timely and constructive feedback on assessment. Different modes for delivery (e.g. face to face, video conferencing, podcasts and etc). More interactivity – encouragement and facilitation of interaction among different stakeholders, i.e., o Learner – learner interaction o Learner – tutor interaction o Learner – content interaction Lecturer who is supportive and encouraging. Accessible material (electronically) Implementation plan: An implementation plan was devised: Revised the study guide. Inserted more examples and reviewed the curriculum. Created a workbook. Used tutorial letters to address problematic areas. Utilised myUnisa’s additional resources feature and increased interaction of learner/learner and learner/lecturer through discussion forums. Informed students by SMS when visiting other centres. Offered practical sessions on the use of statistical software. Provided individual feedback on assessments. Use beamer programme in answering students’ queries through emails and on myUnisa. Using different tools to address the needs In order to breach the distance between learner and student, the lecturer put her photo on myUnisa and an introduction message. A workbook was created and put on myUnisa as additional resource(s)/. Promoting interaction among different groups – suing telephones, emails and internet to link up learners. o Learner-learner interaction was very low. Instilled confidence among learners o Learner-content was improved by using supplementary examples to complement the guide. The package beamer was used in this case. Learners were given detailed individual feedback on assignments. In certain cases additional problems were sent to the learner and solution to follow in the next assignment or on myUnisa. Interacted with other students through face-to-face (e.g. in Durban). Used trial paper to give learners outlines on how to tackle problems. Tutoring learners on use of computers in data analysis and calculators. Played advisory role. Poor time management. Lack of interaction between learners (e.g. no group discussions or utilisation of discussion forum on myUnisa). Feelings of isolation (especially students outside Pretoria and Johannesburg). Low motivational levels. Learner not seeing face of the lecturer. Difficulties in understanding the study material (lack of well explained and applied examples). Social constraints. adequate background knowledge. Poor time management. Lack of interaction between learners (e.g. no group discussions or utilisation of discussion forum on myUnisa). Feelings of isolation (especially students outside Pretoria and Johannesburg). Low motivational levels. Learner not seeing face of the lecturer. Difficulties in understanding the study material (lack of well explained and applied examples). Social constraints. Limitations Lecturer was new to the college and most of the implementation was done in the second half of the year. Lecturer was still undergoing training on full utilisation of myUnisa. Successes The pass rate increased by at least 11% and almost 50% of the students got supplementary status (marks between 40 to 49%). Way Forward Provide orientation program on myUnisa. Utilise feedback from 2009 students on improvement of the module in 2010 through discussion forums on myUnisa, telephone interviews, face to face interactions, email. Areas to be covered. o The new module content. o The workbook content. o Identifying the best method for interaction among students. Offering once per semester face-to-face tutorial to learners Using myUnisa to put additional problems with timeline of completion of problem to increase time management in the exam. Advising students every month on what they should have grasped at that point in time. Changing introductory message on myUnisa every three months. Explore podcasts and video conferencing. Long term-goal – having an examinable practical component for the exam. Conclusion Research findings indicated that there was lack of interaction among the different groups, low motivational levels, and lack of focus from the students and poor time management. The content lacked detailed examples, inaccessibility of the lecturer and no fully utilisation of available resources like e-resources. The results lead to recommendations on rewriting of the module and introducing a workbook. There was also the necessity of enhancing the different interaction especially lecture-student interaction and use of detailed individualised feedback on assessments. An implementation plan was developed for use in the next academic year. However, there is need to do a quantitative analysis on the impact of the characteristics identified on the difference in results from 2008 to 2010. References Brindley, J.E., Ossietzky C., and P. H. Paul. (2003). The Role of Learner Support in Instutional Transformation – A Case Study in the Making, University of Oldenburg and University of Windsor. Hui, H.W. (1989). Support for Students in a Distance Learning Programme, in Interaction and Independence: Student Support in Distance Education and Open Learning, edited by Tait, A, Cambridge: The Open University. Ipaye, B. (2005). Strategies for Sustainable Learner Support Services in Developing Nations. Learner Support Services, National Open University of Nigeria. Robinson, B. (1995). Research and Pragmatism in Learner Support, in Open and Distance Learning Today, Studies in Distance Education edited by Lock Wood, F London and New York Routledge. Roberts, D. Learner Support in South African Distance Education: A Case Study for Action. University of South Africa, South Africa. Sewart, D. (1992). Student Support Systems, in Distance Education for the TwentyFirst Century: Selected papers from the 16th World Conference of the International Council for Distance Education, Thailand. Tait, A. (2003). Reflections on Student Support in Open and Distance Learning International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, April. Thorpe (2001), Rethinking Learner Support: The Challenge of Collaborative Online Learning, Overview of Mary Thorpe’s Paper by Erica McAteer.
