College feedback on the progress made in terms of delivery of Open and Distance Education
10 March 2015
The False Bay College journey
We embarked on a blended learning strategy in 2007 where we did, amongst others:
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Enabling lecturers to teach with technology in the classroom (e.g. data projectors,
interactive white boards)
College LMS was established and populated with content, old exam papers and selfassessments.
Student and lecturer orientation is ongoing in the use of the LMS
Other supportive software for subjects at risk were introduced (e.g. CAMI Maths and
Language and Learnscapes)
Enabling lecturers through lecturer laptop scheme for lesson preparation and enhancing
teaching
Students have access to content to reinforce concepts taught in class
The White Paper 2014 guided us to establish a Distance Learning delivery mode in 2014.
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In 2014, we partnered with a private provider to establish the framework for our Distance
Education initiative.
Our focus is on Report 191 Programmes within Business Studies N4 – N6 and Engineering
Studies N1 – N3.
In the absence of clear policy around the delivery of Report 191 programmes in a Distance
Learning format, there were a number of challenges with the private provider.
The College used the ICASS guidelines for Report 191 programmes as our departure point
and while the ICASS guidelines refer to different delivery modes (including Distance
Learning), the implementation of the ICASS guidelines limits the extent to which we can
deliver in a pure Distance Learning format.
We were restricted geographically if we strictly adhere to the ICASS guidelines which defeats
the pure objective of Distance Learning
How does False Bay College overcome these challenges and deliver Distance Education?
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We have had to restrict our intake linked to our geographical footprint (e.g. within a 400 km
radius)
We have hostel facilities that can accommodate students who have to travel to our
campuses to write internal and external exams. This is not the ideal situation and the
proposed Distance Education policy will have to look at decentralised examination centres or
revised criteria for ICASS assessments within Distance Education.
Students are invited to attend an orientation session where they meet their tutors as receive
training on the LMS.
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For Report 191 Business Studies, three additional face to face contact sessions are scheduled
for subject groups where more than 7 students are enrolled.
Students receive study guides, semester or trimester plans as well as textbooks (hard copy
or e-book)
There is constant communication with students via email, sms or telephone to inform them
of dates, reminders, encouragement, hints and tips.
Students have access to Subject Matter Experts via email or telephone if they have queries.
Current Distance Education enrolment
Trimester 1 2015 (Engineering Studies)
Semester 1 2015 (Business Studies)
28 students (52 subject enrolments) in
Electrical Engineering
Subjects:
Maths N1 (14 students)
Engineering Science N1 (16 students)
Industrial Electronics N1 (6 students)
Electrical Trade Theory N1 (7 students)
Maths N2 (4 students)
Industrial Electrons N2 (2 students)
Electrical Trade Theory N2 (3 students)
29 students (62 subject enrolments)
in N4 – N6 Business Management and
Financial Management
Subjects:
EBM N4 (19 students)
Man Communication N4 (19 students)
ICP N4 (10 students)
IFA N4 (5 students)
EBM N5 (3 students)
Computer Practice N4 (1 student)
Sales N5 (2 students)
Public Relations N5 (1 student)
EBM N6 (1 student)
Sales N6 (1 student)
Total of 57 students (114 subject enrolments)
What is the Way forward?
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We need to develop a separate ICASS guideline for Distance Education where tests and
exams can be done on line and some tests replaced by assignments. The current ICASS
guidelines for Report 191 Studies does not make allowances for this.
The ICASS guideline for Distance Education needs to outline the presentation, storage and
retrieval of student evidence for ICASS assessments as well as pre and post moderation of
evidence.
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There needs to be clear definitions so that there is a common understanding of what
Distance Education is. Is this distribution of hard copy material or is it an e-learning format
or even a blended learning format?
There needs to be clear policy on the delivery of Distance Education and it can’t be the same
as full time or part time students as the Distance Education students often are not able to
come to a campus.
The aim of Distance Education is to provide access to students who are unable to attend
classes on a campus. We also need to ensure that the relevant support is in place for
Distance Education students to be successful.
The delivery mode and revised assessment criteria needs to be endorsed by the relevant
Quality Assurance body in order to ensure the validity of the qualification received by the
Distance Education student.
There also needs to be the space for colleges to offer other programmes (both occupational
accredited programmes and other soft skills) in a Distance Education format.
There needs to be clear guidelines against which a college must be assessed to ascertain
their ability to offer Distance Education taking processes, policy and infrastructure into
account.
There needs to be a clear costing guideline in terms of what a college can charge a student
per subject within Report 191, taking into account additional expenses that can be incurred
(e.g. courier costs and printing of study guides.)
Contact details:
Distance Education Manager
Mrs M. Theron
marian.theron@falsebay.org.za
021 7011153
082 331 8035
Academic Head: NCV and Report 191 Programmes
Mrs M. Vermaak
melanie.vermaak@falsebay.org.za
021 0030621
083 305 7292