Off-campus M.Sc.TE course of IUT through distance mode

M Shahjahan Mian Tapan and Shamim Ahmed
Islamic University of Technology
Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Islamic University of Technology (IUT), a subsidiary organ of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has been established with the aim of developing human resources in the member states of the OIC in the field of engineering, technology and technical education. Out of its four departments, the department of Instructor Training and General Studies (ITS) provides different pedagogical training and courses/degrees for the teachers of technical institutes. The department has a Masters Programme in Technical Education, which is called M.Sc.TE.

IUT is the only university of OIC that provides postgraduate courses in the field of Technical Education. These courses are specially designed for the teachers of different technical and vocational institutions among the OIC member countries.

Pedagogical training is very important for the teachers' performance in the classroom situation for maintaining the quality of education in the technical and vocational institutions. But due to a lack of trained teachers in the technical and vocational institutions in the least developed and developing countries among member states of OIC, the quality of technical and vocational education is not flourishing and improving. Besides, it is not always possible for the institutions to send their teachers for a long-term course like the Postgraduate Diploma in Technical Education (PGDTE) or Master of Science in Technical Education (MScTE). Therefore, the university is thinking about an alternative way of providing them the training and degrees in Technical Education without disturbing their work environment. The Department of ITS can accommodate only 10 students in the masters course, but the demand is very high from different countries and pressure to find an alternative way of providing higher education and training to the teachers is growing day by day.

Therefore, to train more teachers at a time, the university is thinking of introducing an off-campus course in addition to its on-campus courses through distance mode. Online web-based distance programme can provide an attractive delivery mode for teaching the teachers, so they can get the training and degree, and at the same time they can continue their job. With the help of necessary technological support, the off-campus courses may be offered for greater coverage of the target group of the OIC countries. This course will be a combination of self-instructional material and audio-visual presentation of lectures through web site. The examination may be taken in suitable centers near to the work place of the target group (trainees) or there may be open book online examinations. The experts from the different OIC countries may be involved in developing course material and present it on the web site. There may be a link programme with other universities of different OIC countries in developing the course material or taking the examinations.

The programme can be helpful in producing more effective, efficient and trained teachers in the field of Technical and Vocational Education and Training and meet the need for trained teachers of Technical Education in the OIC member states.