Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Open University to offer course content on CDs

Staff Reporter

TNOU ties up with Expertus to digitise course materials "The CDs would help in self-paced learning for students"

Chennai : The Tamil Nadu Open University (TNOU) has collaborated with Expertus, a provider of strategic training outsourcing services, to digitise the contents of its course materials and bring it out in CD format.

M.S. Palanichamy, Vice-chancellor, TNOU, inaugurating a workshop by Expertus to initiate University members into the process of content digitisation, said the TNOU was trying to incorporate appropriate hybrid technologies in its management, administrative and instructional operations in order to reach the unreached and make distance learning a seamless process that addresses different segments of society including the traditionally disadvantaged.

He said the University was allocating almost one-fifth of its course fee income each year for the conduct of periodical academic counselling sessions at various TNOU centres spread across the State. The digitisation was being done to provide students the printed course material in a digitised manner to ensure quality in teaching.

Tutoring CDs gave students the chance to repeatedly use them until their doubts were cleared which was not possible in a classroom set up, where the group dynamics scored more than individual learning styles. Expertus has incorporated a variety of objective type questions and quizzes at the end of each chapter to facilitate self-assessment, he said.

The CDs will be distributed along with the course material free of cost. It can be used on any computer available at the Learning Resource Centres or Cyber Cafes or on home computers. The CDs have images, audio and video to help better understanding and practical application of subjects. Srini Krishnamurthi, Managing Director, Expertus, said it came up with the novel approach to make distance education more interesting. The CDs would help in self-paced learning for TNOU students, Prabal Mall, Head, Content Development, Expertus, said. Later, talking to mediapersons, the Vice-Chancellor said that initially the CDs would be cover 25 subjects and the project had received an allotment of Rs. 25 lakh. More grants were expected from the Distance Education Council by January itself. He said the UGC would take a policy decision on helping students who have completed community colleges under the TNOU to get lateral entry into degree courses.

Father Xavier Alphonse, a UGC member would convene the meeting to decide on this shortly. On February 10, Vice-Chancellors of Open Universities in the country will meet at Nashik to discuss ways of augmenting student intake into open universities with the help of the Ministry of Human Resources Development.

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