STUDY CENTER SERVICES

Getting university education next to you. Study centers are being set up all over the country and abroad to provide the students a platform to interact with counselors, other students and for use of the library. Students will get personal attention at these centers in addition to the hands-on-training at these centers.

A multi-form of instruction has been adopted, comprising of:

a) Print material: Study material for all subjects, which are supplied in the form of books
b)Counselling Sessions: Will be held at Study centers, to suit the convenience of students.
c)Practical Sessions: Will also be held at the study centers
d)Assignments: For assessment, evaluation and for feedback of comprehension of study material.
e)Project work: To enable the student to gain an insight into independent working on a practical project.

Instructional System:

The methodology of instruction in this Open University is different from that of the conventional Universities. The Open University system is more learner-oriented, so much so, the student has to be invariably an active participant in the teaching-learning process. Most of the instructions are imparted through distance rather than face-to-face communication. The University follows a multi-channel approach for instructions suitably comprising of the following:

a) Self-instructional Printed Material
b) Audio and Video
c)Website information
d)Face-to-face Counselling at study centers by Academic Counselors
e) Assignments
f) Field based Projects

To start with, the courses will be delivered on Internet and conventional distance education mode. In due course, it will shift more and more towards on-line interaction between teacher and the student in the form of virtual class rooms. Skills will be inculcated right from the beginning though interactive sessions.

Counselling Sessions:

In distance education, face-to-face contact between the learners and their tutors/counselors is relatively less and therefore counseling is an important activity. The purpose of such a contact is to answer some of the questions and clarify doubts, which may not be possible through any other means of communication. There are experienced academic counselors at the study centers to provide counseling and guidance in the courses that are chosen for study. The student will be informed of the program schedule details by the study center Co-ordinators.

Assignments:

Assignments are an integral part of distance learning. The main purpose of assignments is to test the students comprehension of the learning materials received from the University and also to help better comprehension the courses by providing feedback. The information given in the printed course materials should be sufficient for answering the assignments. However, the student may have to refer to other books and references given in the course material to have a compressive knowledge of the subject. But the assignments are generally designed in such a way as to help to concentrate mainly on the printed course material with a fleeting touch to other references.

Practical Training:

Considerable importance is given to hands-on training on computers in this programme. A set of practical exercise for subjects which need laboratory work are available at the study centers as also on the website. Student needs to do this practical exercise under the guidance of their study center faculty. Major part of the contact hours at the study centers will be devoted to this laboratory work.