Enhancing distance teaching and learning through technology: a study of India's first Open University

Ramaiah Pannala
B R Ambedkar Open University (BRAOU)
Andhra Pradesh, India

In developing countries, the quest for higher education is increasing due to various socio-economic-political demands. Equalization of higher educational opportunities has become an important goal of contemporary developing nations, and Open Universities have become powerful instruments for higher educational development of modern societies. Open Universities are considered to be a great educational innovation of modern times. The founding of open universities marked the beginning of a new and prestigious era in the history of modern higher education. They are harbingers of this new educational revolution. Developments in communication technologies have enhanced the potential and utility of open universities. The three main communication technologies (audio technology, video technology and computer technology) broadened the horizons of distance teaching and learning through open universities. How the communication technologies increased the effectiveness and efficiency of open universities is an interesting matter for discussion and investigation.

Dr.B.R.Ambedkar Open University (BRAOU), the first full-fledged, independent and totally state supported distance teaching university in India, utilizes communication technologies for enhancing distance teaching and learning opportunities in Andhra Pradesh, the fifth largest State in India in terms of area and population. The BRAOU is a technology-enabled distance higher education institution aimed at democratization of higher educational opportunities in the State. It is greatly promoting human resource development in the State.

The specific objective of this paper is to study the use of communication technologies by the BRAOU for the educational goals for which it was set up 25 years back. No other distance higher education institution in the State is using technologies for instructional purposes. Doordarshan, MANA TV and All India Radio are helping the BRAOU greatly in the use of technologies for the spread and advancement of higher education in the State. This study attempts an in-depth investigation of the distance teaching-learning by the BRAOU driven by technologies. This is the pioneering effort in the direction of the use of technology by distance education institutions in the country in making technology use effective for distance teaching and learning.