POLICY IMPERATIVES IN THE DELIVERY OF ODL: A NECESSARY INGREDIENT FOR QUALITY TEACHER EDUCATION

1. POLICY IMPERATIVES IN THE DELIVERY OF ODL: A NECESSARY INGREDIENT FOR QUALITY TEACHER EDUCATION J. ANAMUAH-MENSAH Jam@uew.edu.gh & ASABERE-AMEYAW asabereameyaw@yahoo.com

2. “In the early twenty-first century, people will be able to study what they want, when they want, where they want, and in the language they prefer, electronically.“ Peter Knight, July 1994

3. CAN GHANA BE PART OF THIS REVOLUTION?

4. Just one statement Ghana is poised to Improve the quality of its teacher Education and education in general using Open and Distance Learning as lever

5. Every Morning in Africa, a Gazelle wakes up. It Knows it Must run faster than the Fastest Lion or it will be Killed. Every Morning a Lion Wakes Up. It Knows it Must Outrun the Slowest Gazelle or it will Starve to Death. It Doesn’t Matter Whether You are a Lion or Gazelle. When the Sun Comes Up, You Better Start Running. An African Proverb

6. Ghanaian Sphinx Ghana faces significant challenge in providing access to HE: • Only about 3% of eligible age group enrolled in tertiary education; • The 38 TTCs enrol only 25,534 students, averaging 672 students per college • TTCs produce only 8,538 new teachers annually, averaging 225 per college; • Rising demand for opportunity to study in HEI • Inadequate places in HEI and teacher training institutions

7. The supply of teachers is critical to the human resource development of sub- Saharan Africa. • Conventional approaches to TE in Africa have not been able to meet the increasing demand for teachers.

8. What ODL is to do • widens participation in HE partly through low costs per student hence increasing inclusiveness • changes culture, economics, competitive processes, participation, cost structures, class structure of the whole system

9. Opportunities offered by ODL • Massification of higher education • Democratization of education • Cost effectiveness, as many more individuals are reached at a time • Improved educational standards through the use of high quality materials • High level of institutional involvement in the preparation of learning materials and in the provision of student support system • Effective and interactive delivery models that make up for face-to-face classroom interaction with tutor.

10. Overview of ODL in Ghana

11. Overview of ODL in Ghana • Most of the ODL programmes in the country are based on the print media • Application of ICT in ODL is low; • Except for UEW and UCC local content in modules is low; • Lack of coordination and direction for ODL • Lack of national policy framework

12. These attempt were unsuccessful in ensuring the formulation and development of a nationally accepted framework to guide open and distance learning in the country. This situation has allowed institutions and agents of foreign organisations to start distance learning programmes without adhering to any acceptable benchmarks. It has also created the situation where little known higher education institution have entered our education market. This can adversely affect the quality of courses offered which invariably can affect the trust and confidence that people have in ODL.

13. Previous initiatives to formulate a national policyhana Distance Education Project (Kwapong, et al. 1994) Ghana Open Learning and Distance Education Project (Perraton, 1996) Ghana National Policy Framework on Distance Education (Buasi, Agyare & Aggor, 2000) Ghana Distance Education Programme Policy Document (MOE, 2000) Priorities and Strategies for Capacity Building in Tertiary Distance Education for Human Resource Development in Ghana (Mensah & Owusu-Mensah, undated) Report of the Planning Committee for the President’s Special Initiative on Open and Distance Learning (PSI-ODL, 2003) A National Policy on ICT Enhanced Open and Distance Learning for Ghana (Afrani, et. al., 2004)

14. A NATIONAL POLICY ON ICT- ENHANCED OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING

15. Elements of the draft policy • ICT as the mainstay of ODL • Prioritizes target population • Diversification of technologies used in ODL • Ensuring sustainability and economies of scale; • Accreditation and quality control mechanisms put in place based on 3 pillars- material development, student support and efficient administration.

16. ICT has become important for a number of reasons including: • The description of ODL as a Guided Didactic conversational process requires the high degree of interactivity of ICT to ensure constant touch with students. • The importance of ICT in reaching the remote learner enables the provider to give continuous attention or continuity of concern to the learner.

17. Use of modern ICT to enhance the 3 pillars of ODL; • Government to support establishment of shared facilities for ODL programmes including regional or district study centres to be owned by ODL providers; these should be self financing; • Government to encourage telecommunication authorities and broadcasting bodies to give precedence to ODL activities;

18. Establishment of an autonomous national coordinating body at MOESS; • With statutory powers to coordinate ODL activities in Ghana; • With advisory council made up of reps. from Ministries, public and private bodies • To work closely with NAB, NCTE & GES council • Oversee funding of ODL • Ensure human resource development for ODL • Liaise with international ODL agencies in order to keep all providers in Ghana with available opportunities

19. Priority areas for ODL • Upgrading Untrained and under-trained basic education teachers to diploma; • Provide skill training for out-of-school JSS and SSS leavers; • Graduates of adult functional literacy and numeracy programmes who need to continue non formal training to advance their life skills

20. Creation of capacity within MOESS/TED to implement UTTDE with teacher training colleges & universities • Establishment of National Open College

21. As we advocate for a national policy we should note the limiting human and structural factors • Limited access to technology • Lack of trained personnel to use it • Lack of enthusiasm for technology among academics • Poor institutional arrangements and support to help academics to develop skills for the new technologies • Inadequate expertise in the development and management of ODL • Poor public perception of ODL.

22. Limiting human and structural factors (Cont’d) • Lack of robust domestic ICT backbone • Inadequate state support for the new telecommunication technologies • Inadequate financial resources • Inadequate as well as high cost bandwidth • Inadequate regulatory instrument for supporting ICT in ODL • Absence of private sector participation in ODL

23. The way forward • . A national Agency or Commission to coordinate ICT enhanced ODL in the country should be set up as a matter of urgency. This could be called National Agency for Coordinating Open and Distance Education (NACODE). It should liaise with the National Accreditation Board to accredit ODL providers and ensure quality of provision.

24. . A policy framework for ICT enhanced ODL should have a clear vision and mission statement to guide the activities ODL providers and the national coordinating body. • A virtual library system should be set up. This should be done in phases. The first phase could cover the higher education sector. The second phase could be for secondary and basic education while the third phase takes care of the local communities.

25. A National ICT Infrastructure framework should be established to cover all the District Assemblies. The architecture of the infrastructure should take into consideration the diverse networking needs of the national geo-political landscape and the population density in urban and rural areas. The regions and all the district assemblies should be used as centres of communication that will relay information to the study centres, community centres and schools.

26. A national Open University is to be established as a matter of urgency • Public/Private partnerships in ODL should be encouraged and appropriate regulatory measures put in place; • Government should hasten the development of appropriate infrastructural backbone for high speed data transfer.

27. All ODL providers should be required to develop and implement institutional philosophies on ICT enhanced ODL

28. CAN GHANA BE PART OF THIS REVOLUTION?

29. Yes, Yes and Yes ….It is only a matter of time Thank you