A STUDY ON THE POSTGRADUATE DIPLOMA IN EDUCATION STUDENT TEACHERS’ INCLINATION AND RELEVANT RESOURCES FOR ONLINE LEARNING

Abstract

From the students’ side their inclination, possession of relevant resources and accessibility to the Internet are very important to learn through online. Furthermore, it would be useful if they can find extra time for online activities and fluency in English language. With the development of the information and communication technology, online learning is growing rapidly around the world. The Open University of Sri Lanka is also gradually moving into offering more online courses. The Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) programme is one of the oldest and major programmes offered by the Department of Secondary and Tertiary Education (STE) of the Faculty of Education. Now department is working to introduce online components into the PGDE programme too. This study has four objectives namely to find out the inclination of student teachers in distant areas to follow an online course, The possession of relevant resources by wise inclination and possession of the resources to follow an online course and the available facilities and resources at the centers to conduct an online course. The study was carried out through a survey. For this purpose two remote districts were selected as a purposive sample; Namely Ambalantota study centre and Badulla regional center. The samples of the PGDE student teachers were selected by using the random sampling technique. Seventy five (75) student teachers were selected from each center by random sampling technique. The two data collection instruments used - a questionnaire and a semi structured interview schedule. Data were analyzed by using both qualitative and quantitative analyzing methods. The study revealed that, Majority of the student teachers were somewhat willing to spend around 2 hours per-day on online course. The student teachers’ inclination to use the internet related communication tools were less than 41%. Majority of student teachers were willing to do online learning activities. Majority of students accessed the internet only through the mobile phones. Males’ inclination was higher than the females’ inclination to follow an online course. Majority of the male student teachers have more personal resources than the female student teachers. Availability of the printers was comparatively low among both male and female student teachers. Both centers have the Internet facility but the number of computers was not adequate for the PGDE student numbers in both centers. The study intended to guide the students’ considering their diverse learning needs, and the course designed and developed to be compatible with the mobile phones. The students should be given more opportunity to use available resources at the centers of the university in a more efficient and effective manner.

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