Inculcation of Values for Best Practices in Student Support Services in Open and Distance Learning-The IGNOU Experience

Student support services are the cardinal features of the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) System. In India, the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), 13 state open universities and over 200 Distance Education Institutes (DEIs) attached to conventional universities and private/autonomous institutes offering programmes through the distance mode (MHRD, 2013) have all created adequate provisions for learner support services and the systems, rules, regulations and norms have been put in place. However, it is significant that a learner in the ODL system remains away from the teacher and the peer group. Thus, the learner feels isolated (Das & Ghosh, 2011a) and needs the empathy of all the functionaries concerned. It has been our experience at IGNOU that more often than not the functionaries fail to realize the value of a learner and the learner fails to understand the value attributed to him by the ODL system. Without such realization the rules and regulations lose their significance. Hence, inculcation of values is of paramount importance in the functioning of the ODL system. In this article we have discussed about 'inculcation of values' among the 'learners' as well as the 'functionaries' for developing 'best practices' in learner support services in the ODL system. The inputs are based primarily on direct experiences of the authors.