Learners' Perception of Practical Knowledge and Feedback: Insights for Talent Management in Engineering Education at the Open University of Sri Lanka

Abstract

The expansion of higher educational opportunities and recommendations along with the deliberations at the higher levels of policy planning for the country have led to the introduction of several innovative practices in education. One of the innovations is “distance education”. Conventional face-to-face education is teaching or teacher centered, while distance education is learning or learner centered. In a leaner centered context, leaner support plays an indispensable role. The teaching and learning component of the support service has been the focus of the current research interest. Present study centered on the teaching leaning and the practical components of the courses offered by the Faculty of Engineering technology of the Open University of Sri Lanka. The objectives of the study were to identify the personal characteristics of the distance learners, to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the teaching and learning and the practical components of the courses. A piloted and validated questionnaire was administered to a sample of 300 students from Degree Programmes of 2015/2016 Academic year selected at random. The student support services provided to the students of the faculty of Engineering, considered (16, 64%) support services were very strong. Another 5 that is (25%) support services were considered as strong. The rest of the services (04; 16%) were poor and need immediate attention. The results of this study will be useful for the course developers and policy makers when developing courses and implementing policy decisions. However, to capture the whole picture of the issue required and objective approaches with different faces of the open distance learning institutions.