Talk:PCF5:Exploring the legacy of the University of London External system of open, flexible and distance learning

Sub: PCF5: Exploring the legacy of the University of London External system of open, flexible and distance learning

While India’s external system is no doubt an extension of London University’s external system, the latter in India since independence is seen fulfilling three important pedagogical outcomes. One is seen as a purely a private system, devoid of any formal instruction and provision of curricular materials,  restricted to providing only an opportunity to appear for exams (Matric, Pre-University and Graduation) through the State run Universities for the non-formal students to actualize their academic ambitions. Second one is an offer or an opportunity to link a student from formal stream to another formal stream through a non-formal phase of break in formal education. Third is seen as fulfilling an eligibility criterion for an employment and poverty reduction. For over 3 decades more than 40-50 oldest Indian Universities continued this practice, however, unscientific these pedagogical practices were. Soon, the UK Open University system in which better teacher-student interaction through a circular communication system, offering pedagogic materials, teleconferencing, videoconferencing and audio-visual materials, has been implemented in India and the first one to begin in this direction was B.R.Ambedkar Open University in Andhra Pradesh (A State Funded) in India followed by the establishment of IGNOU in New Delhi. However, all most all the State and Central Universities quickly adopted an Open University system through their separate distance educational and continuing educational wings. The author of this paper was himself the beneficiary of the system, (and had earned two out of his four post graduate degrees through this), though he had to struggle a lot to get recognition to the degrees awarded to him through the distance mode. As such he had the opportunity to visualize the external system in all the three ways described above. (Submitted Abstact to cde@london.ac.uk.) (281words).

I welcome further disucssion on this provided it interests the fellow participants in anyway. How I faced a number of problems through external system and distance education are worth sharing.