The Communications

Directorate of Distance Education

University of Kashmir

ISSN: 0975-6558

In this paper an attempt has been made to study the status of student support system and highlight the problems faced by the distance learners and some suggestions to address their problems. Further in this paper a case has been made to rethink and re-plan about the planning and development of human and material resources required in distance education by the end of the 11th five-year plan and beginning of 12th five year plan. The system is all poised for a big leap, and it is at this stage decision makers need to discuss about the strategies to cope with the problems and develop the distance education system in a more relevant and sustainable way. Sanjay Mishra of, IGNOU mentioned in his paper in university news that recognizing the qualified human resource is key to sustainable development of any system would result in a system that provides better qualitative outputs and outcomes at a time when the resilience of the system is subjected to test. Not giving thoughts to the needs of the system in terms of the human resources will bring the system more criticisms in implementation than laurels that the theoretical principles of distance education will boast of. As such there is every danger in “Great Plans with little Planning”. In other words every people always try to add value to their competence in their bid to advance their carrier further. Distance Education is also very cheaper to compare with regular mode of education. Distance education has greatly reduced the wall of distance between education and a normal student beyond the long distance of home or work place to university. Now just a little need to increase the need to make it professional and employability part of education community.

The social media is in the minds of everyone today. It has influenced every aspect of human life. Almost every human being is directly or indirectly involved in it. Organizations, associations, forums or individuals use this platform to promote their cause or maximize their tangible or intangible benefits. This article looks at the various aspects how the distance mode of education can exploit this platform to achieve their quality goals.

The Directorate of Distance Education, University of Kashmir offers, one year Diploma in preprimary teacher training programme. One of the components of the programme is practice of teaching which is conducted in identified schools. The headmasters working in these schools perform the duty of supervisor for DPPTT students and thereby become the part of ODL system. After making review of related literature a research gap was identified, “ Leadership style of supervisors involved in ODL System”. Fifty headmasters (supervisors) working in practice of teaching schools were taken as a sample. The tools used was Shalini Bhogle, Leadership Style Questionnaire. In this questionnaire there are 13 different situations posed to the head, in the form of an event. The headmaster chooses one. Each denotes a fixed style of Leadership, Autocratic, democratic and laissez faire. The study has revealed that most of the headmasters exhibit laissez faire type of leadership which has negative impact on supervision part of our students. This issue merits attention. The need of the hour is to conduct, orientation programme for the capacity building of faculty involved in ODL system.

This paper is an attempt to study the scholastic achievement and intelligence of Gujjar and Bakerwal tribal students of the Jammu and Kashmir state. The sample for this study comprises of 200 tribal students comprising of 100 hostellers and 100 day-scholars studying in various government schools of Jammu and Kashmir. The total marks obtained by the respondents were taken as the raw score for the scholastic achievement. The total score obtained by the respondents on the Cattell’s Culture fair (SCALE—2, FORM—A) test of intelligence taken as the raw score for intelligence. The results obtained after proper statistical treatment of the data reveal that the scholastic achievement of the hostellers is better than that of the day scholars. A little difference was found in the mean score values of intelligence, with hostellers having a slightly higher value than that of the day scholars. However, the variance shared by the intelligence was found to be higher in day scholars scholastic achievement than in hostellers. The results reveal that the higher scholastic achievement of hostellers are being very much influenced by other cognitive or non cognitive factors. Here it can be inferred that the incentives provided to hostellers play an important role in determining the scholastic achievement of these tribal pupils.

The purpose of this study was to examine students’ attitudes towards the innovations of modern educational technology and role of these tools in schools education at present. The data was collected through the self constructed questionnaire by the investigators, and was distributed among 200 students (100 Govt. and 100 Private) of senior secondary schools of Kashmir. The findings of the study, which were obtained by analyzing the data collected from the students, revealed that, the private senior schools have better facilities of innovations of modern educational technology as compared to the Govt. Senior secondary schools at present, but no variations was found in the attitude of both the groups regarding the implementation of innovations of modern educational technology in Kashmir province.

The proliferation and thereby acknowledgement of ODL (Open and Distance Learning) both in developing and developed countries imply the mode’s significant potential. Teaching and learning are no longer confined to the classroom or the school day. There are many technologies that can offer a great deal of flexibility in when, where, and how education is distributed. This paper provides an overview of benefits of distance learning as well as the various technologies now being used to reach remote learners and educators who are interested in implementing open and distance learning technologies in the new epoch.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of Psychological Well-being and Psychological Distress on Educational Adjustment among female Hostellers. The Universe of the Study was the University of Kashmir. Total sample comprised of 85 students from Habba Khatoon Girls Hostel, Rabia Basri Girls Hostel and Qurat-ul-Ain Hyder Girls Hostel who were pursuing different Courses in different faculties. Random Sampling was carried out to collect the data. Mental Health Inventory (MHI-38) was used to investigate Psychological Well-being and Psychological Distress which are both the significant dimensions of Mental health and are individually scored for the assessment of respective areas of Mental Health. Adjustment Inventory for College Students (AICS, 1995) by A.K.P. Singh and R.P Singh was used to collect data to assess Educational Adjustment of the sample for the present Study. Only Educational Adjustment was considered for analysis and correlated with Psychological Well-being and Psychological Distress. Pearson’s correlation was used to find correlation between variables in the present Study. The results showed no significant correlation between Psychological Well-being and Educational Adjustment. Also no statistically significant correlation was found between Psychological Distress and Educational Adjustment.

The present study was carried out to find out the “Impact of Mid-Day Meal Scheme on Enrollment of Students at Upper-Primary Level in Education”. The sample for the present study was drawn from 20 Government Upper-Primary schools. It is proposed to draw at least 10 students (5 males and 5 females) from each school. Hence, the sample for the study was 200 students (100 males and 100 females). The data was collected with the self-constructed questionnaire (survey questionnaire) and the school record was prepared and the usable response rates were collected and the collected data was analyzed with the help of percentage. The results reveal that there is a significant impact of mid-day meal scheme on the enrolment and the retention of students at upper primary level in education

The study aimed to find the impact of Microteaching technique on the competence ofpupil teachersin using the skills of set-induction, explaining, probing questions, stimulus variation and reinforcement. The study was conducted by using one-group Pretest-Posttest experimental design.Teaching behaviorof the pupil teachers before they entered the experiment was assessed by pretests and at the end of the treatment the pupilteachers were given posttests. The sample for the study consisted of 120 pupil teachers selected through random sampling technique from Department of Education, University of Kashmir Srinagar enrolled for the B.Ed programme, session 2012-2013.The Observation Schedule cum Rating Scale(Nadeem. N. A) was used as the tool for the present study.Results based on statistical analysis of scores in the pre-test and posttests showed that the teacher trainees differed significantly in using the above mentioned five core teaching skills.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has revolutionized the functioning of distance learning system to a great extent. The technological advances in Open and Distance Learning System (ODL) have become more prevalent and easily accessible to greater masses. ICT is thrusting its inclusion in every aspect of ODL system whether it is teaching learning process or administrative operations. It has become imperative to employ ICT for carrying out all the activities of the ODL System in an effective way to meet the requirements and expectations in a better way. Given the presence of ICT in the ODL System, it has become necessary to study changing technologies and the manner in which they can improve the functioning of ODL system. Mobile technology is one such area which has revolutionized every sphere of life. Mobile communication is being considered as the best way of communication as it bridges the gap between geographical distances. ODL can take the maximum benefit out of mobile technologies, if used properly. This paper focuses on how ICT especially mobile technologies can be used to improve the functioning of the Open & Distance Learning. The paper also presents the issues of a service in terms of information sharing its authenticity and access control so that the system can ensure the information transmission to the utmost satisfaction of its candidates. The paper discusses the various mobile architectures and gives special preference to hybrid technology in support of systems.

The present study explored the relationship between parental acceptance/rejection and emotional maturity of children of working mothers. The sample for the present study comprised of 400 children of working mothers and were selected randomly from the elementary schools of two districts Srinagar and Shopian of Kashmir valley. The sample subjects comprised of 8th class students within an age range of 13-14years. Rohner’s parental acceptance rejection questionnaire (1978) and Emotional maturity scale of Singh and Bhargava (1990), were used to measure the parental acceptance/rejection and emotional maturity of children of working mothers. The data were analyzed by using mean, S.D and correlation. The results indicated that, there is significant relationsh

Daily we interact with scientific gadgets or machine which safe our life and make it easy. Science not only educate but also develop the ability of reasoning, curiosity, creativity, positive attitude and problem solving approach and these are the ability must be developed in each and every citizen. For the betterment and development of every country the education of science is essential. Science especially at secondary level is very important for students of the 21st century. Secondary education is the cornerstone of education system as it is the gateway to the opportunities and benefits of economic and social development. Now India is well known all round the world for its scientific outputs and its effective performance in the field of IT. Great efforts have been made over the last quarter century to improve science education across the country. India is lagging in science and technology compared to developed countries. The well-known challenges in science education today include overcrowded class size, lack of funds and student interest. To overcome this situation it is essential to have strong effective policies and High quality of science teachers must be actively pursued. The paper is based on the field experiences of the authors and reflects what are the issues and concerns in science education at high school level which needs a serious rethink on the part of planners and teachers to synchronize education