Managing Learner Support Systems

 Overview 

These materials support a discussion on the topic of the issues that confront open and distance learning programmes in delivering courses and providing support to learners. All education programmes must support learners in a variety of ways, including counselling and advising, and providing library services or perhaps special tutorials. The emphasis in the materials that follow, however, is on providing support to learners who are studying at a distance, and the particular problems and issues that distance raises.

The first subsection deals with general issues in providing learner support in open and distance learning and the second deals with the types of support that are provided.

The section closes with first a checklist of questions that open and distance learning providers can ask of their particular programme to ensure that they are providing quality services to learners and, finally, another practice exercise.

Source materials for this topic

The Commonwealth of Learning. Perspectives on distance education: student support services. Vancouver: col, 1992.

Evans, T. Understanding learners in open and distance education. London: Kogan Page, 1994.

Lewis, R. Tutoring in open learning. Lancaster: Framework Press, 1995.

Mills, R., and A. Tait. Supporting the learner in open and distance learning. London: Pitman, 1996.

 Providing learner support

The issues

The issues involved in providing support to distance learners emerge in answering questions like the following:

·    What are the characteristics of open and distance learning that determine the support needs of distance learners?

·    What are the main roles of learner support in the light of these needs?

·    What are the different stages in the learning process at which learners require support?

·    What are the essential characteristics of a successful support system?

Problems distance learners face

Distance learners face problems that include:

·    isolation in that distance learning participants may have little or no opportunity for face-to-face contact with the institution, their tutor, or fellow learners;

·    difficulty organising studies and finding sufficient time to study;

·    difficulty balancing work, study, and family commitments;

·    lack of motivation;

·    lack of resources and equipment – in that learners may not have access to specialist libraries or practical equipment needed for studies; and

·    difficulties in developing appropriate study techniques such as note taking and essay writing.

Discussion: What problems have distance learners faced in your own and your participants’ experience? The case studies that are included in this kit also provide examples of learner support needs and methods.

Special needs of distance learners

Distance learners have special needs, which include:

·    information to help learners relate to the institution and understand its system;

·    contact with tutors to help maintain motivation and overcome learning problems;

·    institutional identity, which is some means of helping learners identify with a remote institution and to feel that they are part of a body of learners rather than studying in isolation;

·    advice on how to study; as well as that provided within the course itself, learners often need additional support to develop good study techniques.

Roles of support services at key times in the learning cycle

Some of these support service needs of distance learners are indicated in the following table.

Stages in the Learning Cycle

Discussion: Provide an example of a working support system with which you and your participants are familiar. A variety of examples of learner support systems are also contained in the case studies that accompany this kit.

Role of face-to-face support

As discussed in Managing Open and Distance Learning Programmes (Topic 4) of this kit, many open and distance learning providers maintain a network of ‘access centres’ or ‘learning centres’ in order to provide learners with localised delivery of learning

materials and support.  Such networks often include facilities provided by other agencies and institutions such as including classrooms for tutorial sessions, library, and study space, and in some instances laboratory space and co-operating staff. 

Access centres of this kind afford a number advantages to learners :

·    they provide localised, personalised service to learners;

·    they strengthen the local identity of the programme or institution;

·    they can reduce turnaround time in the return of feedback to learners on assignments;

·    they can provide enhanced support to learners, via laboratories, library resources, computing facilities, audio and video conferencing;

·    they provide sites for regular meetings and tutorials; and

·    they provide the programme with direct feedback on its performance.

Examples:  The Bangladesh Open University has a network of twelve regional resource centres, soon to be expanded to fourteen, to which learners come to register for courses, collect learning materials, check examination results, get information about bou programmes, and seek advice and help with studies.  These regional resource centres are the nodes of a country-wide network made up of three types of centres:

·     local centres, located in municipal centres, where learners can receive information;

·     tutorial centres, located in colleges; and

·     teacher training institutes, where learners go twice monthly for face-to-face tutorial sessions.

See the case study for Charles Sturt University for an account of an institution struggling with the issue of whether to continue its face-to-face residential schools or to offer learner support in some more independent, mediated manner. 

The case study for the University of Nairobi Distance Education Teachers Programme also discusses the issue of residential schools, in this case the challenge of replacing tutorial sessions increasingly with residential schools.

Stage in learning cycle	Learner needs
Pre-enrolment	information about the institution and its courses advice on which courses to choose advice on how to finance studies
Enrolment and starting study	more detailed information about the institution and study procedures advice on studying at a distance advice on planning studies
Completion and graduation	notification of exam results career advice advice on further studies

 

 Instructional support

Role of instructional support

Usually the key support function in open and distance learning is that of providing tuition and academic advice. The cost of providing tutorial support often represents a substantial proportion of the distance learning unit’s overall budget. Careful

organisation in this area is therefore important for the efficient running of the distance learning unit as a whole.

Academic advice

All tutorial methods allow learners and tutors to interact, so learners can benefit from the advice of tutors and get the most from their materials.

At a minimum, in all learning systems ways have to be found

·     to inform learners of who is their tutor;

·     to inform tutors of who their learners are; and

·     to enable learners and tutors to communicate.

Because of the differences in the media used for communication, tutorial models have different characteristics, as summarised in these questions:

·   Does the tutor–learner dialogue take place synchronously or asynchronously? That is, do the tutor and learner need to interact in real time or can a response be delayed?

·   Do learners interact solely with a tutor or do they also interact among themselves?

·   Can learners access the tutorial service from home or do they need to travel to an access centre?

The table on the following page identifies the management requirements for systems with these characteristics.

Management Requirements for Support System

Characteristic	Requirements of system
Synchrony Examples:  learners attend scheduled face-to-face or audio conferenced or video conferenced tutorial sessions	High requirement for detailed scheduling High need to monitor technical performance of delivery medium as breakdown is a critical problem High need for on-hand technical support High training requirement so learners will master medium
Asynchrony Examples: learners can telephone or e-mail their tutors individually, or communicate with tutors and other learners via computer conferencing	Highly desirable to provide flexible temporal access to system Lower need for monitoring technical performance than for synchronous systems, as downtime can be overcome later and learner can re-enter the system Technical skill or operation of system by learners can be gained over a longer period, because mistakes are not as critical as in synchronous systems
Tutor–learner interaction only Example:  one-on-one telephone tutorials and tutorials by post	Higher need to guarantee learner access to some minimum guaranteed amount of time High need to ensure tutor availability at regular times Lower need to schedule interaction in a precise manner
Tutor–learner and learner–learner interaction Example:  any of the conferencing media, face-to-face tutorials	Requirement to provide inter-group access High need to schedule group interaction if interaction is also synchronous High need to ensure consistent technical performance of technology being used as downtime will affect multiple users Learner needs to be informed of how and when to access system
Access from home Example:  computer conferencing	Scheduling is critical if synchronous group interaction is to occur Learner needs to be trained at a distance to use the system
Access through study centre Example:  face-to-face	High need to organise a facility at which learners meet High need to schedule group meetings and inform learners High need to ensure performance of technology used.

 

 Non-instructional support

Though less visible than instructional support and less central to the actual process of learning, non-instructional support is vital to the smooth operation of distance learning and must be integrated with instructional support. Generally speaking, the following types of learner support are available.

Admissions and registration

The admissions and registration support subsystem includes the following functions:

·     marketing;

·     facilitating applications;

·     making offers;

·     registering learners; and

·     matching learners appropriately with courses by level, subject, and so on.

Counselling

Learner problems that require referral to counsellors include:

·     financial difficulties;

·     family problems;

·     difficulty in maintaining motivation;

·     problems in finding sufficient time to study;

·     balancing conflicting commitments; and

·     physical difficulties or barriers, including limited mobility, hearing, or sight impairment.

Administrative support

 A distance learning unit or institution needs to inform learners of the following kinds of information:

·     the office hours;

·     the best times to call for advice;

·     any days when the office is closed;

·     the name of the learner’s tutor;

·     how to contact the tutor;

·     who to write to or telephone about different matters;

·     deadlines for sending in tutor-marked assignments; and

·     dates of examinations.

Depending on the tutorial system that is in place, other required information may include:

·     location and hours of nearest learning centre;

·     facilities available at learning centre;

·     names and addresses of other learners (with their permission); and

·     updates on curriculum changes, procedures, and so on.

Library services

Most open and distance learning programmes do their best to provide learners with complete learning packages that contain all the materials they will need to complete the course.  Nonetheless, learners will from time to time need access to other resources of the kind typically found in libraries, and distance learning providers need to create this access.  There are a number of ways of doing so, depending on the resources available not just within the institution itself but also from other providers.  These include:

·     circulating books and other resources from the institution’s own library by post, even though this is expensive and relies on the existence of adequate postal services;

·     providing copies of reference books and other resources in the access centres;

·     providing mobile libraries, usually buses, which are fitted out with shelves and books and which travel from community to community;

·      making arrangements for learners to have access to the libraries of institutions or agencies in their local area such as schools and colleges;

·     encouraging learners to apply for reading or borrowing privileges at local libraries; for example, the British Council has libraries in major cities throughout the world; and

·     training learners in how to find, select, and download resources from the Internet and in particular the World Wide Web.

Finance

Part-time learners are typically disadvantaged in awards schemes. Distance learning programmes therefore typically seek scholarship and bursary funds, which entails fundraising as a function.

 Management checklist 

To determine whether your support system is successful, you will need to ensure that you have effective methods of getting feedback from your learners, using focus groups and surveys to find out what problems your learners and tutors are having.  In

addition, you will need to have effective quality assurance systems in place as discussed in Performance Indicators (Topic 9) in this kit, in order to monitor system effectiveness on an ongoing basis and correct any shortcomings you discover.

Checklist for Successful Delivery and Learner Support

q    Do you know your learners’ geographical location, age range, access to facilities, academic ability, gender, and so on?

q    Are staff sensitive to gender, societal, and cultural differences?

q    Are staff sensitive to the frustrations and time constraints adult learners often face?

q    Do staff have up-to-date knowledge about the institution and its courses?

q    Are your support systems flexible and learner-oriented, available to learners when and where they need them?

q    Are the resources allocated to learner support adequate?

q    Is there an appropriate balance of resources allocated to the development of materials and subsequent support of learning from those materials?

q    Does your support function provide support to the internal functions of the distance learning unit as well as to learners?

q    Is your decision to keep support services centralised, or to manage them on a regional or decentralised basis, appropriate to meeting the needs of your learner population?

q    Does your learner record system contain the following information:

-       personal details, including name, address, age, family circumstances, and employment?

-       academic and professional qualifications?

-       special requirements such as specially adapted materials for disabled learners?

-       tutorial record, including dates when assignments were received, grades, and copies of tutor comments?

-       list of materials sent, including date of dispatch?

-       record of attendance at face-to-face sessions?

-       fees paid?

q    Are your records detailed, accurate, and up-to-date? Do you ensure that:

-       records systems are regularly monitored to ensure they are functioning efficiently?

-       information is disseminated to the right people at the right time?

-       records are kept in a secure fashion so that only authorised personnel have access to them?

-       legal requirements governing the handling and storage of information are met?

q    Are your support staff, whether instructional, counselling, or administrative, trained and updated on an ongoing basis?

 

 Practice exercise

Making the case for tutorial support

Instructions: Divide the participants into two groups. Describe the following scenario and situation to both groups.

·     Scenario:  An open and distance learning unit has been in operation for eighteen months now at Prestige University.  For the past six months this unit has actually delivered three courses by distance, using a basic correspondence model.  Learners can telephone the unit if they have problems, but there is no continuous assessment provided and learner performance is assessed only by the final examination, which learners must sit at the same time — indeed in the same examination hall — as the on-campus learners in the course.

·     Situation:  The director of the open and distance learning unit is meeting with the Pro-Vice Chancellor, Learner Services, to whom she reports, to argue for more funding so that tutors can be paid to support learners during the course and not just to mark the final examinations.

·     Task: Group One is the Pro-Vice Chancellor group.  Their task is to come up with arguments, from a strictly conventional, campus-based point of view, as to why learners ought not to need this ‘special’ service.  Group Two is the distance education director group.  Their task is to come up with arguments from the point of view of the distance education unit as to why learners must have the services for which the director is asking.  Ask each group to supply a ‘role player’ who will play out the meeting situation with his or her counterpart, and argue the case that the group has developed.

Discussion:  Draw out some of the issues and problems that confront open and distance learning    managers in trying to provide adequate support services to their learners.

Timeframe: An hour should be adequate for most groups.

Materials required: None.