Effects of Staff Training and Development on Professional Abilities of University Teachers in Distance Learning Systems Free

The role of a teacher in the entire educational setup remains unique. A teacher is considered a change agent who trains individuals for society as well as facilitates development of skills that are necessary for an individual's grooming; and at the same time necessary for the economic development of the nation. A student's thinking style, problem solving approach, and use of knowledge and skills in different situations depends largely on his or her learning and the main source of information and learning for a student is his or her teacher. It is generally inferred that teachers teach the way they learnt in a teacher training program. If teachers merely shift their knowledge to the students without real understanding, students can obtain a degree by reproducing this knowledge, but it cannot be an asset for them. Teachers who have up-to-date knowledge of their field, clear concepts of their subject, and a strong grip on how to shift their knowledge to the students, are considered good teachers in general terms. At present, quality education is needed that is “fit for purpose.” Curriculum, activities in the classroom, assessment system, and examination system are some variables that contribute to quality and all these variables depend on the teacher. In an educational system, only quality teachers can guarantee for quality education.

Higher education institutions are responsible for generating productive knowledge that serves the nation. National Education Policy (Government of Pakistan, 2009, p. 55) documented that good quality, merit-oriented, equitable and efficient higher education is the most crucial instrument for translating the dream of a knowledge-based economy into reality. In Pakistan, distance education is a popular mode working parallel to the traditional educational system. Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) of Pakistan is a mega-university, imparting higher education through its distance learning system. At the higher education level, major clients of AIOU are those people who completed their master's level education at traditional universities and engaged in their services being unable to attend traditional institutions due to one or the other problems. AIOU provided an alternative to their education at their doorstep with nominal fees as compared to traditional institutions. In the changing scenario, teaching is not as it was 1 or 2 decades ago. In the global age, it is necessary for university teachers to have knowledge of new approaches of teaching, emerging trends in the field, and must add new knowledge their existing knowledge. If a university teacher does not follow the current changes in the field, he or she may help to produce degree holders, but not intellectuals for the society. Information and communication technologies (ICT's) have made tremendous changes in the field of education and make the whole world a global village. Now it is the duty of a university teacher to indulge in opportunities for new knowledge for his or her career as well as for guiding students in the right direction. All over the world, organizations and institutions arrange such programs that enhance knowledge and skills of their staff. Staff training and development serves as a genuine tool to successful implementation of total quality management (Abid, 2008). AIOU arranges training sessions and staff development workshops and seminars for capacity building of the staff. These training sessions and staff development programs affect the teaching styles, content knowledge, and research work of the faculty members, which they utilize in their teaching and which ultimately affects the students’ performance.

The role of the teacher has changed. Two decades ago, a teacher was a person who transferred knowledge to the students and now a teacher is a guide who leads the students to find facts and enables them to understand the mysteries of the world and contribute towards the economic growth of the nation. The role of a teacher in higher education institutions is to prepare students to accept the challenges of the present and future. Higher education institutions are considered to be knowledge-generating agencies that preserve old knowledge and generate knowledge that is useful for all human beings as well as useful for the economic development of the nation. Sutton (1998), with reference to Newman, noted that it was not the prime purpose of universities to advance knowledge or to train graduates for professional specialties but to make their students into enlightened and morally upstanding human beings and leaders of their societies.

National Education Policy (Government of Pakistan, 1998-2010) states that the quality of education is directly related to the quality of instruction in the classrooms … [teacher's] academic qualification, knowledge of subject matter, competency and skills of teaching and commitment of teacher have effective impact on teaching learning. National Education Policy (2009) documented that improving quality requires action in the areas of teacher quality, curriculum and pedagogy, textbooks, assessment approaches and in learning environment and facilities. Now, it is the responsibility of teachers to update themselves according to the need of the time. Society expects its teachers to care for students, to care about their learning, to be knowledgeable about curriculum content, and to know how to induce learning in others (Jeans, 1993). Robinson (1992, p. 77) defines quality as a product of planning, monitoring, control, and coordination. The British Standards Institution (1999) defines quality as the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy the stated or implied needs. Higher education is considered essential for development of a nation.

Higher education prepares young people for an effective role in the society and for meeting the challenges of the future. Boston Report (2002) states that, “higher education has always been an important component of the social agenda; but it has acquired a new importance today.” In the emerging knowledge economy nations that fail at creating a decent learning environment will lag behind, and may end up becoming virtual colonies of those that do succeed in this regard. Across the world, universities are responsible for generating new knowledge and for providing new paths to progress. It is considered that universities must produce skilled individuals who may play their role for development of the society. Universities “should produce human resources trained to meet the needs of the economy, to concentrate on practice and on lifelong learning” (Commission of the European Communities, 2005, p. 3). In the global age, quality higher education is necessary for growth and development. Frazer (1992) says that quality higher education is important because universities must be accountable to society, to employers, to students, and to each other.

Staff development is a process of enhancing capabilities of the staff in terms of pedagogical skills and content knowledge. Hassel (1999) defines staff development as the process of improving staff skills and competencies needed to produce outstanding educational results for students. Ladd and Fiske (2008) argue that quality professional development programs reduce teacher attrition and improve the quality of the existing teaching population. About professional development Guskey (2000) notes that one constant finding in the research literature is that notable improvements in education almost never take place in the absence of professional development. Wenglinski (2002) reiterates that effective professional development programs indirectly increase student performance by improving teacher instruction

Quality education depends on quality teachers; without quality teachers, quality education cannot be achieved and staff training and development is a step to ensure quality education. ICT's gave a new dimension to distance education. The term “ICT” embraces the many technologies that enable us to receive information and communicate or exchange information with others (Anderson, 2010). The quality assurance in open and distance learning become more complex with additional latest tools of Information and communication technology (Rashid & Iqbal, 2010). Now computers and the Internet are becoming an essential part of an effective education system. Higher learning institutions consider ICT's an integral part of imparting quality higher education. In a distance learning system, ICT's are essential for efficient systems. With the use of ICT's, teachers can guide and monitor students competently. Teachers involved in distance education need some special skills and knowledge for ensuring quality within distance learning systems. Distance may cause some serious problems in research work at higher level learning, where the teacher and the taught are at a distance. In distance learning system, a teacher must have a good grip over the use of ICT's. Iqbal and Ahmad (2010) recommend that teachers in distance learning programmes should be given mandatory training and retraining of ICT programs to provide them with practical and functional knowledge of computers, the Internet, and associated areas of ICT.

Distance education is a popular mode around the world. Distance learning programs are a reflection of this new world. They offer education without borders (Levine & Sun, 2002).

Distance education accommodates those people who are unable to attend traditional institutions. The new majority of college students are very different: they are older, attend classes part time, hold jobs, have families, and live off campus. Unlike traditional students, nontraditional students do not consider school to be central to their lives (Levine & Sun, 2002).

About staff training and development in distance education system, Murangi (2009) states,

Many changes are occurring in the field of education. A teacher cannot survive without updating his or her knowledge and pedagogical skills. In Pakistan, it is generally a perception that higher education is only possible through the traditional learning system and in this regard distance mode cannot work effectively (Khan & Jumani, 2010).

Professional development includes formal experiences (such as attending workshops and professional meetings, and mentoring) and informal experiences (such as reading professional publications and watching television documentaries related to an academic discipline) (Ganser, 2000). AIOU provides these opportunities to its faculty members with regard to professional development. At its main campus in Islamabad, AIOU arranges educational seminars and conferences. AIOU provides funds to its faculty members to attend international conferences around the world.

AIOU's Vice Chancellor's Report (2007) documented the following steps taken by the university for faculty development:

• For training of staff and faculty, programs were designed to enhance the professional skills.

• For quality input AIOU staff development program was developed and got approved through statutory bodies (p. 69).

The objectives of the study were:

1. To find the opinion of AIOU faculty members about the learning of ICTs in staff training and development programs and its impact on research work.

2. To find the opinion of teachers about the effects of staff training and development on their content knowledge, teaching methods, material development, and research work.

Using convenience sampling, 60 faculty members were selected to participate in the study. The faculty members had attended seminars on education, a training program, ICT training, and national and international conferences.

A questionnaire was developed on 5-point Likert scale for obtaining the opinion of faculty members about the role of staff training and development in professional growth in terms of content knowledge, teaching methods, material development and use of ICTs and its impact on research work.

For validation, the questionnaire was sent to five faculty members of AIOU who had completed ICT training and had attended national and international conferences. Some items were rephrased in the light of experts’ views. The experts pointed out some irrelevant items, which were deleted.

In the final version of the questionnaire, there are 20 items; 5 items about effects of training and staff development on content knowledge; 5 items were about effects of staff training and development on teaching methods; 4 items were about staff training and development programs and material development; and 6 items were about the ICTs in staff training and development programs and its impact on research work.

The questionnaire was distributed to the faculty members of AIOU by the researchers, and they collected the completed questionnaires. There was a cover letter, describing the purpose of research and the respondents were assured that their provided information would be used only for research purposes.

After collecting data, each statement was checked by applying the chi-square technique with a significance level of 0.05.

The respondents agreed that staff training and development programs refresh prior knowledge and introduce them to new trends in the field. They further concur they learn the content knowledge in a broader sense in interrelationship of the content and learn effective ways of presenting content knowledge to the students. Training helps teachers select the right method according to the demand of the topic. This decreases the shortcomings in the classrooms and teachers are able to provide a good environment for learning. In addition, teachers learn new pedagogical skills in training, which affects the learning of the students.

In distance education, AIOU provides its own published material to the students. The respondents confirm that they were introduced to new concepts in the field; they make comparisons with the international material and inculcate new advancements while updating the material. ICT's give a new smartness to distance education by minimizing the distance between teacher and student. Use of ICT's affects the research being conducted and acts as a tool for guiding students in research work. By using the Internet, the best available knowledge is collected at a desk and this increases the efficiency in research work.

The principal findings of the study were:

• Staff training and development programs provide opportunity to refresh prior knowledge.

• Staff training and development programs introduce new concepts in the field.

• Staff training and development programs help teachers understand content knowledge in a broader sense and enable them to interrelate the concepts imparted.

• In staff training and development programs, teachers learn new pedagogical skills for effective teaching.

• Staff training and development programs enable teachers to inculcate new and emerging trends in the material.

• Staff training and development programs guide teachers to new methods of updating reading material.

• ICT's give smartness to distance learning.

• ICT's decrease the distance between the teacher and the student.

• ICT's are very beneficial in research work.