COMPUTATION OF EFFECTIVENESSOF THE CERTIFICATE COURSES OFFERED BYOPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING CENTRE, ANGRAU

Distance education is powerful medium for extending knowledge and skills to large number of people outside the class room boundaries. It extensively usesrecent advances in technology (ICTs) for developing standard teaching materials to provide learner centric education to aspirantsacross the globe. Open and Distance learning center of Acharya N.G.Ranga Agricultural University is aimed at giving access to agricultural education to maximum aspirants of the state. The study investigated the potential of newly initiated Certificate Courses in imparting Agricultural education in new areas with the aim of reaching the grass roots. The present study was conducted with 200 randomly selected participants of distance learning certificate courses of three months duration - Organic Farming and Terrace Gardening in telugu offered by ANGRAU in 2018with an objectiveto measure the effectiveness of the distance learning courses on the basis of selected parameters such as Course content , Contact sessions , Resource person expertise , Duration of course , Communication pattern, Exposure visits/Practicals,New learnings gained and Course objectives achieved. The data was collected from respondents using structured Interview schedules and check lists. Effectiveness index was computed by summating the scores on all eightparameters of certificate courses.The effectiveness index scores of selected parameters of the courses and showed that 67.50 percent of officers perceived the certificate courses to be highly effective followed by 23.50 percent of them as effective and a meagre 9.00 percent expressed as less effective.The study implied that the parameters such as Exposure visists/Practicals and Course duration that scored comparatively less needs immediate attention.

Distance education is powerful medium for extending knowledge and skills to large number of people outside the class room boundaries. It extensively usesrecent advances in technology (ICTs) for developing standard teaching materials to provide learner centric education to aspirantsacross the globe. Open and Distance learning center of Acharya N.G.Ranga Agricultural University is aimed at giving access to agricultural education to maximum aspirants of the state. The study investigated the potential of newly initiated Certificate Courses in imparting Agricultural education in new areas with the aim of reaching the grass roots. The present study was conducted with 200 randomly selected participants of distance learning certificate courses of three months duration -Organic Farming and Terrace Gardening in telugu offered by ANGRAU in 2018with an objectiveto measure the effectiveness of the distance learning courses on the basis of selected parameters such as Course content , Contact sessions , Resource person expertise , Duration of course , Communication pattern, Exposure visits/Practicals,New learnings gained and Course objectives achieved. The data was collected from respondents using structured Interview schedules and check lists. Effectiveness index was computed by summating the scores on all eightparameters of certificate courses.The effectiveness index scores of selected parameters of the courses and showed that 67.50 percent of officers perceived the certificate courses to be highly effective followed by 23.50 percent of them as effective and a meagre 9.00 percent expressed as less effective.The study implied that the parameters such as Exposure visists/Practicals and Course duration that scored comparatively less needs immediate attention.

Introduction:-
Distance education is powerful medium forextending knowledge and skills to large number of people outside the class room boundaries. It extensively usesrecent advances in technology(ICTs)for developing teaching materials of good quality and to provide an effective learning experience to aspirantsacross the globe.

ISSN: 2320-5407
Int. J. Adv. Res. 8(06), 174-179 175 Government of India has taken keen interest to initiate distance education in many Universities across the country to meet the educational needs of large number of aspirants. At present more than 200 universities/institutions,15Open Universities and some private institutionsare recognized by UGC to offer distance courses in the country (Ashok K Gaba,2015). Acharya N.G.Ranga Agricultural University is expanding its wings to extend agricultural education beyond class rooms. Over the decades Agricultural Scientists of the University have put in many efforts to extend technologies throughout the state but the outreach gap is still significant. The Open and Distance LearningCentre (ODLC) was established as a cost effective and learner-oriented approach to large number of aspirants throughout the globe.The major aim of ODLC is to honeskills for self-employment and income generation by extending its technologies to large numbers in the state.
Hence, it is important to study the potential of certificate courses through distance learning medium in providing Knowledge and skills to the participants enrolled in the courses. The present study was undertaken with the objective to compute the perceived effectiveness of the courses offered fromODLC, ANGRAU as perceived by the participants.

Methodology:-
Ex-post facto and exploratory research design was followed for the study.The studywas conducted in Andhra Pradeshwith a sample of 200 respondentswho completed the two certificate courses offered by ODLC in the year 2018-19, 100 from Organic Farming course and 100 from Terrace Gardening course out of total 560 enrolments throughout the state, were selected randomly for the study. A pre-tested interview schedule was used to collect data from the respondents. Selected characteristics of the respondents' viz. age, gender, education,farming experience, previous training undergone,information seeking behaviour, innovativeness,cosmopoliteness and higher aspiration were considered as independent variables of the study.
Effectiveness of distance learning courses was measured based on 8 parameters such as Course content,Contact sessions, Resource person expertise, Duration of course, Communication received, Course duration, Exposure visits Practicals, Course objectives achieved and New learnings gained.
Likert scale of summated rating was used to assess the effectiveness of the courses that includes 8 different parameters assessed with Likert type questions with the scale interval of 5: Strongly Agree to 1: Strongly Disagree. A total of 45 statements regarding 8 parameters were selected regarding the two courses separately. These were presented to the respondents with 5 possible answers for each statement scored on a continuum 5 to 1. The obtainable scores ranged between 225 and 45 respectively. Based on the total scores obtained on the 8 parameters of effectiveness,effectiveness Index was computed by using the following formula.
Total Scores obtained Effectiveness Index (EI) = ----------x 100 Obtainable scores The participants were further categorized into Less Effective, Moderately Effective, Highly Effective on mean and standard deviation.

Results And Discussion:-Perceived EffectivenessIndex (EI) of the distance learning courses
The perceived effectiveness of distance learning courses was measuredon the basis of 8 parameters such as Course content, Contact sessions, Resource person expertise, Duration of course, Communication received, Course duration, Exposure visits / Practicals, Course objectives achieved and New learnings gained.The results showed that out of the 8 parameters listed, the respondents scored well on Effectiveness index for parameters in the order-Resource person expertise(EI=92) , Contact lectures (EI=87), New learnings gained(EI=82), Course content(EI=80),Course Objectives achieved (EI=76) and Communication pattern(EI=72) . The EI scores were observed to be comparatively less for the parameters Exposure visits(EI=58), and Course Duration(EI=29).
The results showed that the course was developed as per the needs and interests of those aspiring to learn basic Knowledge and skills. However,there is a need to focus on skills oriented aspects with complete involvementof the 176 respondents and make learning more permanent. As majority expressed less satisfaction over course duration, possibility for including video lectures/Flipped classes could be explored for more interaction and learning.

1b. Effectiveness index of the Distance learning courses
The index of effectiveness was computed using eight parameters of distance learning courses.  The findings implied that the respondents expressed positivity towards the course content , lectures , faculty and conduct of the course but have expressed to have more practical exposure in establishing small balcony gardens , Vermicomposting , organic mixtures and formulations, Home composting etc. which was taught during the course but expressed that they need more practical approach to start small enterprise units.

Conclusion:-
Distance education is being recognizedas a powerful medium for education and is becoming widely used in universities and institutions making education more personalized and affordable. The recent technological advancements such as ICTs paved way for providing individualized attention and communication with the incorporation of ICT channels through online courses and MOOCs. The study indicated the respondents showed a positive perception regarding the effectiveness of courses and thus indicating a many are aspiring for education through distance medium. Hence there is scope for the University to extend its wings and make agricultural education reach as many as possible through this medium. In future, incorporation of ICTs can make this technology more affordable and sustainable. Besides, introduction of Skill oriented courses will help many aspirants to seek Self-employment through entrepreneurship.