APC P.14c
2003/2004
UNIVERSITY
OF THE WEST INDIES
ACADEMIC
PROGRAMME COMMITTEE OF THE UWIDEC
Issues
from the St. Augustine campus
A. Conversion to online courses and programmes
Table 1. Distribution of course development and
coordination
|
|
Cave
Hill |
Mona |
St.
Augustine |
TOTAL |
|
Number of courses where materials are developed. |
21 |
29 |
19 |
69 |
|
Number of courses where the delivery is
coordinated. |
5 |
31 |
33 |
69 |
1
Table 1
shows the number of courses that UWIDEC delivered in academic year 2003/4 and
the distribution of the work among the campuses. If we assume (a) an optimistic
and aggressive conversion rate of three months per course and (b) that each
campus works on three courses simultaneously, the conversion process would take
a minimum of 29 months. This also assumes that all the resources are available
and dedicated to the conversion process. Based on actual experience in the
development of print materials an average of 18 months is more realistic. If we
use this to calculate the minimum time for the conversion we would get 174
(29x6) months or 14.5 years.
2
The other
aspect is the delivery of online courses. The course coordinators will need to
be trained in online instruction and pedagogy. Systems have to be developed and
implemented to handle tutorials, in-course assessment and final examinations.
3
UWIDEC at
this campus has not started the process of full conversion of its courses for
the online environment; it still maintains the 9 online courses which provide
supplementary content. It should be noted that the Principal of the St.
Augustine campus has requested that every Department put online content for at
least one course and has been advocating the use of computers and software in
all courses on the campus.
B. Intellectual property rights and distance
education
4
On page
one of A policy on intellectual property
for the University of the West Indies (January 1998), it states that the
policy is set within “the context of intellectual property Law regimes of the
countries served by the University.” The OAS has a web site[1]
which conveniently collects the intellectual property legislation of its member
states. As UWI/UWIDEC’s strategic goal is to use asynchronous web delivery for
distance education, it needs to review the contracts of course writers, course
coordinators, tutors and instructional designers to ensure that UWI/UWIDEC can
distribute to students the work in any media format whether it is print, audio,
video or digital media. UWI/UWIDEC needs to also seek permission of the owners
of copyrighted material to distribute copies to students in digital format.
C. High failure rate in SY32E-Industrial Sociology
I
5
Since the
first offering of SY32E in 2001/2002 the failure rate has been high, even
though it is repeated in the summer session. The course coordinator has
reported that the failing students are not demonstrating in the final
examination the required performance level to pass the course. The course
coordinator has also reported that tutors do not attend teleconference sessions
and also do not communicate with him in order to understand the level at which
students are expected to perform in the examination.
6
While
investigating the prerequisites for SY32E, it was noted that it was different
for UWIDEC students than for face-to-face students. UWIDEC students are
required to complete one course (SY14G) while face-to-face students required
two courses (SY20E; SY20F or MS32D). So in the case of face-to-face students they
need to complete two level-2 Sociology courses before attempting SY32E while
UWIDEC students are allowed to do it after completing one level-1 sociology
course. This may be the root cause of the high failure rate. If it so, then a
short-term solution to this problem is to arrange the tutoring to bridge the
gap of level-2 sociology courses.
7
The course coordinator’s opinion is that the problem is much more
fundamental than this in that there “seems to be a deficiency in the areas of
the knowledge and thinking skills required to make a success of the course on
the part of a goodly proportion of the Distance Education students.” He
believes that tutoring the face-to-face “prerequisites would not necessarily
address the problem.”
8
More
consultation is needed with other lecturers of SY32E from the other campuses to
arrive at the appropriate action to assist students in passing this course.
D. In course assessment 2003/2004
9
This was
the first time that it was attempted to set mid-term examinations within a
specific week of the semester. This has the potential benefit of making the
administration of these examinations smoother and less burdensome to the
Centres.
10
Course
coordinators enjoy a certain amount of freedom in choosing the type and
quantity of in-course assessment. This freedom has to be limited in the context
of the UWIDEC environment: the logistics of sending assignments to and from the
30 Centres in 16 countries and the time and cost of marking assignments.
11
With the
surge of student enrolment at the St. Augustine campus, face-to-face lecturers
are raising the problems with the management and assessment of large numbers of
students. UWI/UWIDEC should engage in these discussions as any system that the
campus implements would have an impact on UWIDEC operations.
E. Items from Meetings of Academic Board at St.
Augustine
12
Minutes
71-74. The St. Augustine campus is planning to implement an Evening University
targeting people working full-time and estimates taking up to 5,000 students
over five years. In preparation for this, the campus has implemented a
campus-wide timetabling system[2]
using Celcat[3] to
rationalize the use of lecture halls and tutorial rooms. The plan also
considers setting up campuses in Tobago and central Trinidad. This would impact
the operations of the UWIDEC student facility on the campus and compete for the
pool of course coordinators, tutors, invigilators and markers. One positive
impact would be that the campus intends to have administrative staff in the
evening to provide student support services in the bursary, the registry and
admissions. This was not present for UWIDEC students.
13
In
Academic Board meeting, March 25 2004, the chair reported that it is being
planned to start the Evening University in September 2004 with 5 programmes
from the Faculty of Social Sciences, 1 programme from the Faculty of Humanities
and Education, and 1 Post-Graduate programme.
14
Minute
134. “The Board after discussion, agreed that students should be required to
withdraw at the end of Summer examinations and that students who were
successful at Summer examinations should be allowed to re-enter.”
15
Minute
153. “Academic Board agreed that full-time Distance Education students must
supply written verification from their employers that they have been granted
permission to pursue full-time studies.”
16
Minute
154. “Academic Board agreed that Certificate and Diploma students pursuing the
degree programme would receive exemptions for courses passed at
Certificate/Diploma level, but would be required to acquire the number of
credits in order to complete the degree.”
F. Just In Time Lectures (JITL)
17
Work has
started to incorporate video into AM33D –
Introduction to Ecotourism: Product
Design and Management. On March 8 a field trip of ecotourism resorts in
Tobago was filmed which would be used to produce videos as part of the course
package.
G. Evening of Appreciation for graduates
18
An evening
of appreciation was held to honour UWIDEC graduates of 2001-2003. The first
cohort of UWIDEC graduates was in 2001. For Trinidad students it was held at
the St. Augustine campus on January 23 and for Tobago students it was held at
Rovanel Hotel on January 29.
H. WTO and the ‘commodification’ of higher
education[4]
19
UWI/UWIDEC
has enjoyed in the past a sheltered and guaranteed market for its students with
no substantial competition. This environment will change very rapidly in the
next few years based on recent developments globally and in the region.
20
From a
purely marketing point of view UWI/UWIDEC’s competitive edge is the price of
its courses. UWI/UWIDEC is the price leader in the region mainly because of the
subventions from governments in the region and additional subsidies from
individual governments.
21
The WTO
has declared higher education services as a commodity that is traded
competitively across geographical borders and should be accessed without
artificial costs such as subsidies and tariffs. More universities in the world
are offering their programmes on the Internet. There is a general trend of the
lowering of the cost of computers and Internet access with increasing
improvement in quality. In the Caribbean, this trend would be accelerated with
projects such as CKLN and E-Link Americas. These developments will introduce
greater competition of higher education in the region and introduce much more
competition from outside the region.
22
To protect
the Caribbean from being flooded by low quality and worthless educational
services from foreign and local “diploma mills” governments have been setting
up local and regional accreditation bodies. UWI/UWIDEC has to be actively
involved in the development of these accreditation bodies.
Distance Education Centre, St. Augustine
March 29th, 2003