HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
 

Recognising the need for continuous upgradation of open schooling personnel including NOS academic and other staff, human resource development was pursued vigorously through training programmes and participation in conferences, seminars and workshops. The activities during the year included :

Workshops

i) First Orientation Workshop of the Co-ordinators of the Accredited Institution: The first All-India Orientation Workshop was organised on 10th July, 1993 at India International Centre, Delhi. About 150 Co-ordinators from the various accredited institution spread all over the country participated. They were familiarised with the proposed changes in the admission procedures, introduction of Tutor Marked Assignments and financing pattern. The views on the solution of their problems and difficulties were also exchanged.

ii) Second Orientation Workshop of the Coordinators of the Accredited Institution: The second Orientation Workshop of the Coordinators of the AIs of Delhi was organised at Mount Carmel School, Anand Niketan, Delhi on 23rd November, 1993. About 40 coordinators participated. The workshop mainly focussed on the introduction of Tutor Marked Assignments and facilitators. Informations were exchanged on the reallocation, distribution of study material and payment schedule.

Other Workshops

Other workshops organised during the year included :

* several workshops on student assessment and development of Question Bank;

* a national workshop on Development of Learning Skills and Competencies

* several workshops on development of languages curriculum and material in Bengali, Marathi and Telugu;

* number of workshops for training and development of vocational education.

Informed Discussions

Experts were invited to deliver lectures and exchange views on various aspects of distance education to enable the faculty to sharpen its conceptualisation and contribute to greater clarity on basic issues. During the year, 3 such lectures were organised. The names of the visiting experts and the topics on which talks were delivered are given below :

i) Dr. Santosh Panda (IGNOU) Skinnerian Paradigm

ii) Dr. M. B. Menon (IGNOU): Bloom's Concept of Mastery Learning.

iii) Sh. Anand Joshi (YCNOU) Programmes and projects of Y.C. Open University.

Collaborative Programmes

* International Workshop on Role of Distance Education in EFA: A curtain raiser workshop on

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Role of Distance Education in EFA (Education for AR) was organised at India International Centre, Delhi from Sep '6-8 1993 in collaboration with IMAGE (International Multi-channel Action Group on Education) and COL (Commonwealth of Learning). The programmes was inaugurated by Sh. S. V. Giri, Education Secretary to the Ministry of Human Resource Development. Smt. Chitra Nayak, Member Planning Commission delivered the key note address. The participants came from WAGE group, Distance Education Institutes and UNESCO/UNDP group in India.

* Conference on Distance Education: The NOS co-sponsored the organisation of 25th Annual conference of the All India Association of Educational Technology from Oct. 28th to 30th, 1993 alongwith IGNOU. The theme of the conference was Distance Education and other emerging technologies. Two of the faculty members presented papers on the occasion.

Staff Development

* Sh. S. K. Misra, Deputy Director (Exams) attended three months course in "School Examinations Development under British Technical Co-operation Training Programmes at Cambridge University Local Examinations Syndicate, Cambridge, U. K. from 1st February to 22nd April, 1993.

* Ms Sushmita Mitra, Deputy Education Officer availed of Study Leave and undertook pre-doctoral programme at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi from July' 1993 as preliminary her Ph.D. programme.

* Ms Anita Priyadarshini Singh, Tutor (History) and Ms Gopa Biswas, Tutor (English) completed Diploma Course in Distance Education offered by IGNOU obtaining a Gold Medal.

Faculty Participation and Academic Contribution:

The faculty participated in the international conference on Improve- ment of Quality of Secondary Education organised by COBSE (Council of Boards of School Education). The faculty members also provided expertise in training and academic activities of other educational institutions and professional bodies; served as members of academic and other important committees and participated and contributed papers in conferences, workshops, seminars and meetings.

A brief account of such academic contribution of the faculty in the activities of other organisations and academic institutions is attached at Appendix III. 42