The  major challenges  that are being faced today in  the  educational arena are :

·        the challenge  of numbers,

·        the challenge of credibility,  and 

·        the challenge of  quality

These challenges are being met mainly by the formal system of education.  In order to complement and supplement the coverage by the formal schooling programme, alternative programmes such as open and distance learning (ODL) came into existence.

There are several reasons for adoption of ‘open schooling’ programmes up to pre -degree level in India.  Some of these are: 

·        Providing  education to those who are unable to attend conventional schools for a variety of socio - economic reasons, as well as to those who, for similar reasons, missed opportunities to complete school education in  formal schools.

·        Providing  wider choice of educational programmes to learners. 

·        Providing  a ‘safety net’ to school drop-outs so that they  may not remain under-educated.

In recent times some significant initiatives have been taken by India to widen access to School Education and enhance participation of learners in the educational process adopting ODL mode of delivery.   A well set institutionalized system of Education at school level and at University level through Open and Distance Learning mode is now available in India.

The setting up of the Open School as a Project of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in 1979 was a landmark in the history of Indian Education;  and Open Schooling in literal sense began with open entry, open choice, open time and place.  Encouraged by the success   of the  Project of CBSE,  the Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) set up  the  National Open School (NOS )  in 1989 with a view to provide education through ODL mode to those who cannot attend regular schools. Since its inception, the NOS discharged the responsibility to promote the school education through open learning system in the country. It performed a significant role for defining standards in open schooling, experimenting with innovations, assisting State level organisations with professional resource support and expertise, and dissemination of tested innovations, curriculum and materials.

Through a Resolution published in the Gazette of India on 20 October 1990, the National Open School (NOS) was vested with the authority to register, examine and certify students registered with it up to pre-degree level courses. In July 2002, the Ministry of Human Resource Development amended the nomenclature of the organisation from the National Open School (NOS) to the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS).

What does NIOS Do?

The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) provides opportunities to interested learners by making available the following Courses/Programmes of Study through open and distance learning (ODL) mode.

·        Open Basic Education (OBE) Programme for Children (upto 14 years), adolescents and adults at A, B and C levels that are equivalent to classes III, V and VIII of the formal school system.

·        Secondary Education Courses

·        Senior Secondary Education Courses

·        Vocational Education Courses/Programmes

The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS),  set up  in November 1989, has established itself as the largest open             schooling system in the world.  NIOS admits about   0.3 million students every  year.  Currently the students   on roll  in NIOS are about 1.4 million. 

The  Self Instructional Material (SIM)  is the lifeline of ODL.  The ODL books are  ‘teacher –in –print’.  These are written in self-learning mode.  The ODL system has, however, made provision of Personal Contact Programme (PCP) for removal of difficulties of learners.   The Media programmes of NIOS are telecast and broadcast regularly every month.  The audio and video cassettes are made available to the Study Centres of NIOS.   NIOS    endeavours to ensure emotional adjustment  of the learner in the ODL   system through the Self Instructional Material  and congenial atmosphere during the  Personal Contact Programmes. 

NIOS Examinations

In NIOS, two examinations are held every year. Credits secured by the student in examination are accumulated. A certificate is given when a student passes in five subjects. There is flexibility in the choice of subjects. No subject is compulsory except one language. These flexibilities provided by NIOS in its scheme of examinations remove the stress and strain of examinations that are faced by the students of formal system of schooling.

A significant initiative of NIOS is the ICT based On-Demand Examination System (ODES) where assessment takes place when learner feels ready.  Respecting the individuality and sovereignty of the learner, this scheme attempts to  reduce  the stress of appearing in all subjects at a fixed time under a fixed schedule.  The On Demand Examination System is in operation at NIOS Headquarters since February 2005.

Taking note of the fact that the Self-Instructional Material (SIM) and the Media support have very significant place in the open schooling programme.  The NIOS has been endeavouring to find out the effectiveness of these modes of programmes delivery.  In order to assess the efficacy of the Media programmes of NIOS, a study on enhancing mathematical attitude through video programmes among 10^th standard NIOS learners was undertaken.  A precise report of the study is as follows:

Introduction to the Study

 The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), New Delhi offers admission and course selection without much restrictions. Any person desirous to join Secondary level programme may select any course (including Mathematics) of his /her choice. Later on, they face problem of low achievement particularly in Mathematics. A negative attitude or a low positive attitude towards Mathematics may be one of the reasons for low achievement in the subject. It is essential to raise the level of attitude towards this subject, if we want higher level of achievement in the subject.  There is profound fallacy, which permeates the social science, pedagogical literature on attitudes, feelings, emotions and civic education. The fallacy is the assumption that we have found or soon will find those instructional materials and teaching interventions which will guarantee the production of appropriate learner attitudes and appreciations. Since we are so successful at producing automobiles and stereo phone sets and music, why should we fail to produce proper attitude.

Attitude is probably the most distinctive and important concept in contemporary psychology. It belongs primarily to the affective domain and influence behaviour to a considerable extent. According to Classical Model of attitude, attitude consists of three components: cognitive, affective and conative.  The cognitive component in learner’s behaviour refers to how information about a particular subject such as mathematics, is perceived by the learner.  That is at this stage, attitude is expressed as beliefs, opinions or perceptions of the subject.  For example, ‘Mathematics is a hard nut to crack’.  The affective component refers to evaluation, feelings and emotions.   At this stage, learners express their likes or dislikes e.g. a statement such as ‘I don’t like mathematics’.  The affective component is closely related to the cognitive component.  That is, feelings tend to be consistent with belief.  The third component is conative or motivational.  It suggests learner’s behavior, intention or preference. For example, ‘Mathematics is a dry subject, I don’t want to study it’.

The term attitude has not been, and probably cannot be, distinguished clearly from such terms as trait, opinion, disposition, interest, value and temperament. Most often, it is used to describe an emotional reaction, either favorable or unfavorable, towards some objects or class of objects, material or conceptual in nature. An individual, who has associated himself with positive affect or feeling with some psychological object, is said to like that object or, in other words, has a favorable attitude towards that object. Similarly, an individual who has associated negative affect or feeling with that object is said to dislike that object or in other words, he has an unfavorable attitude towards that object. Thus, attitude can be reduced to having a continuum from highly positive attitude to highly negative attitude, with various shades of positive and negative attitudes in between including a neutral zone, which indicate neither favorable nor unfavorable attitude. Thinking in terms of a continuum, it is possible to find out the degree or extent of ‘positiveness’ or ‘negativeness’ of the attitude, thus rendering the attitudes of different individuals comparable. This definition, therefore, appears to be more scientific and useful for operational and measurement purposes. The investigators have, therefore, adopted this definition in the present study. Traditional assumption of most researches on attitude is that the introduction of new information, both positive and negative, will change the attitudes of the people, especially those in the process of school education.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

 The following objectives were framed in order to examine the effect of Video Programmes on Attitude towards Mathematics among 10^th  Standard  NIOS learners.

1)      To assess present Attitude level towards Mathematics among target group learners.

2)      To examine change in Attitude level through inputs of Video Programmes in the target group.

3)      To compare changes in the Experimental group and the Controlled group regarding Mathematical Attitude.

4)      To analyse the significance of difference, if any, between ‘Rural and Urban’ area learners as well as between ‘Male and Female’ learners regarding change in Mathematical Attitude.

5)      To recommend the use of proposed Video Programmes, if found effective, for  significant change in Mathematical Attitude among Target Group learners.

METHODOLOGY

While selecting a suitable Mathematical attitude scale, the Investigators had given  thought to the condition of NIOS learners and their previous background in the field of Mathematics. The NIOS learners belong to a heterogeneous group, having different levels of previous academic experience. It is but natural that these learners have less experience of learning Mathematics in comparison to students of formal studies having a continuous 10 years study experience. These learners do not attend regular classes, like their counterpart in conventional system. They hardly meet their teachers / tutors for interaction on various issues. Under these circumstances, the Investigators examined various available tests in the library of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), New Delhi but no test was found fit for this study because these tests were developed for formal school students. The Investigators also examined a Mathematical Attitude Scale developed and standardized by Dr. S. Rastogi. The test had item related to attitude towards Mathematics for the beginners. This Test has 24 items, 12 positive and 12 negative items distributed over a five-point scale. The learners were supposed to put a tick mark in one of the five columns of their choice. There was no time limit for completing this test and the learners had full freedom to take their own time. However, it was observed that in a duration of 20 to 40 minutes all learners completed the test. Numerical weights were assigned as per the table (1).

Table No. 1

Numerical Weights for Statements

Sum of the weights on all the 24 statements was the learners’ total score for that form. The scores obtained in +ve statement and –ve statements were added to derive a final score by a learner. These scores became raw data for calculation in both pretest and post test. The criteria for learners classification was as below.

S. No.	Points	Remarks
1	24 – 55	Low Attitude
2	56 – 87	Average Attitude
3	88 - 120	High Attitude

The selected Attitude Scale was given twice as ‘PreTest’ and ‘PostTest’. The Experimental Group studied some difficult concepts through Video Programmes and Tutors Support, while the Controlled Group had Tutors support only. There were Six Videos on Profit and Loss, Area, Volume and Surface Area, Triangle, Pythagorus Theorem and Circle.

The Investigators made a wide survey of different study Centres (Accredited Institutes –AIs) in all four areas of both zones of Delhi. They met the Coordinators of different Study Centres and discussed about this experiment. On the basis of suitability, availability and cooperation from the learners as well as the staff from various Study Centres, the Investigators decided to take 200 learners from each of the Regions, as the sample for the purpose of this research. Table 2 depicts the Regions and gender wise learners taken in the sample.

 Table No. 2

                                        Sampling Structure For The Experiment

   DELIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

1)      The study was limited only to 10^th standard NIOS learners of Delhi Region.

2)      Various variables like intelligence, interest in Mathematics, motivational level, socio economic status of the family, previous knowledge level of the learners, was not considered due to lack of time and complicacy of these variables.

3)      No age limit was considered because there is no age restriction for NIOS learners.

4)      Both genders were taken in approximately equal numbers to calculate the gender differences.

5)      The effect of Rural and Urban background on learners’ achievement in Mathematics was taken for study.

RESULTS OF INFERENTIAL ANALYSIS-

                 The Mathematical Attitude Scale (adopted) was administered two times to examine the significance of change in attitude in the target group. Therefore, this analysis covered only two situations as Pre Test and Post Test, for all sub groups like Rural and Urban, Male and Female, and All learners. The detailed inferential analysis is shown in the Tables given below:

Table  No.  3    

Mean, SD and t Values between Controlled Group and Experimental Group

 for ATTITUDE TEST of Rural Area Learners (Pre Test).                 N = 200

S. No.	Group	Mean	SD	Std. Error     (Mean)	t  value	Remark
1.	Controlled	63.04	6.83	1.44	1.42	NS(.05)
2.	Experimental	64.00	6.53	1.15

                              M1-M2 =   0.96                                           NOT    SIGNIFICANT

Table  No.  4

Mean, SD and t Values between Controlled Group and Experimental Group

 for ATTITUDE TEST of Urban Area Learners (Pre Test).                N = 200

S. No.	Group	Mean	SD	Std. Error     (Mean)	t  value	Remark
1.	Controlled	64.80	6.46	1.46	1.23	NS(.05)
2.	Experimental	66.86	6.06	1.12

                           M1-M2 =     2.06                                             NOT   SIGNIFICANT

Table  No.  5

Mean, SD and t Values between Controlled Group and Experimental Group

 for ATTITUDE TEST of Male learners (Pre Test).                    N = 200

S. No.	Group	Mean	SD	Std. Error     (Mean)	t  value	Remark
1.	Controlled	63.68	6.69	1.47	1.05	NS(.05)
2.	Experimental	64.48	6.61	1.77

           M1-M2 = 0.80                                           NOT   SIGNIFICANT

Table  No.  6

Mean, SD and t Values between Controlled Group and Experimental Group

for ATTITUDE TEST of Female learners (Pre Test).                N = 200

S. No.	Group	Mean	SD	Std. Error     (Mean)	t  value	Remark
1.	Controlled	65.28	6.30	1.42	1.56	NS(.0 5)
2.	Experimental	66.56	6.07	1.73

        M1-M2 =      1.28                                               NOT  SIGNIFICANT

Table  No.  7

Mean, SD and t Values between Controlled Group and Experimental Group

for ATTITUDE TEST of All learners (Pre Test).                                     N = 400

S. No.	Group	Mean	SD	Std. Error     (Mean)	t  value	Remark
1.	Controlled	64.48	4.58	1.02	1.68	NS(.05)
2.	Experimental	65.52	4.46	1.24

        M1-M2 =     1.04                                          NOT     SIGNIFICANT

Table  No.  8

Mean, SD and t Values between Controlled Group and Experimental Group

for ATTITUDE TEST of rural area learners (Post Test).                     N = 200

S. No.	Group	Mean	SD	Std. Error     (Mean)	t  value	Remark
1.	Controlled	64.00	6.59	1.43	1.667	NS(.05)
2.	Experimental	83.20	8.26	1.43

       M1-M2 =    19.20                                            NOT   SIGNIFICANT

Table  No.  9

Mean, SD and t Values between Controlled Group and Experimental Group

for ATTITUDE TEST of Urban Area Learners (Post Test).              N = 200

S. No.	Group	Mean	SD	Std. Error     (Mean)	t  value	Remark
1.	Controlled	66.24	6.19	1.48	6.06	S(.01)
2.	Experimental	84.32	9.18	1.23

       M1-M2 =    18.08                                                          SIGNIFICANT

Table No.  10

Mean, SD and t Values between Controlled Group and Experimental Group

for ATTITUDE TEST of Male learners (Post Test).                               N = 200

S. No.	Group	Mean	SD	Std. Error     (Mean)	t  value	Remark
1.	Controlled	64.96	6.38	1.45	11.42	S(.01)
2.	Experimental	82.88	7.95	1.76

      M1-M2 =     17.92                                                          SIGNIFICANT

Table  No . 11

Mean, SD and t Values between Controlled Group and Experimental Group

 for ATTITUDE TEST of Female learners (Post Test).                        N = 200

S. No.	Group	Mean	SD	Std. Error     (Mean)	t  value	Remark
1.	Controlled	65.92	6.21	1.46	9.58	S(.01)
2.	Experimental	84.40	8.14	1.73

 M1-M2 =    18.48                                                   SIGNIFICANT

Table  No. 12

Mean, SD and t Values between Controlled Group and Experimental Group

for ATTITUDE TEST of All learners (Post Test).                                 N = 400

S. No.	Group	Mean	SD	Std. Error     (Mean)	t  value	Remark
1.	Controlled	65.44	4.45	1.03	13.03	S(.01)
2.	Experimental	82.64	5.78	1.23

  M1-M2 =     17.20                                                      SIGNIFICANT

Table  No.  13

Mean, SD and t Values between Pre Test and Post Test for Controlled Group

 of Rural Area Learners - ATTITUDE TEST.                                           N = 200

Test	Mean	SD	r	t  value	Remark
Pre  Test	63.04	6.83	.79	.220	NS(.05)
Post  Test	64.00	6.59

               M1-M2   =    0.96                                                          NOT  SIGNIFICANT

Table  No.  14

 Mean, SD and t Values between Pre Test and Post Test for Experimental

 Group  of Rural Area Learners - ATTITUDE TEST.                           N = 200

Test	Mean	SD	r	t  value	Remark
Pre  Test	64.00	6.53	.86	4.51	S(.01)
Post  Test	83.20	8.26

              M1-M2   =   19.20                                                                  SIGNIFICANT     

Table  No.  15

Mean, SD and t Values between Pre Test and Post Test for Controlled Group

of Urban Area Learners - ATTITUDE TEST.                                        N = 200

Test	Mean	SD	r	t  value	Remark
Pre  Test	64.80	6.46	.81	.369	NS(.05)
Post  Test	66.24	6.19

                M1-M2     =   1.44                                                      NOT     SIGNIFICANT

Table  No.  16

Mean, SD and t Values between Pre Test and Post Test for Experimental Group

of Urban Area Learners – ATTITUDE TEST.                                         N = 200

Test	Mean	SD	r	t  value	Remark
Pre  Test	66.88	6.06	.82	3.20	S(.01)
Post  Test	84.32	9.18

                M1-M2   =  17.44                                                                  SIGNIFICANT

Table  No. 17

Mean, SD and t Values between Pre Test and Post Test for Controlled Group

 of Male Learners - ATTITUDE TEST.                                        N = 200

Test	Mean	SD	r	t  value	Remark
Pre  Test	63.68	6.69	.79	.301	NS(. 0 5)
Post  Test	64.96	6.38

                   M1-M2   = 1.28                                                      NOT   SIGNIFICANT

Table  No.  18

Mean, SD and t Values between Pre Test and Post Test for Experimental Group

 of Male Learners - ATTITUDE TEST.                                                    N = 200

Test	Mean	SD	r	t  value	Remark
Pre  Test	64.48	6.61	.87	4.68	S(.01)
Post  Test	82.88	7.95

                 M1-M2   = 18.40                                                                  SIGNIFICANT

Table  No.  19

Mean, SD and t Values between Pre Test and Post Test for Controlled Group

of Female Learners - ATTITUDE TEST.                                                N = 200

Test	Mean	SD	R	t  value	Remark
Pre  Test	65.28	6.30	.76	.147	NS(.05)
Post  Test	65.92	6.21

                     M1-M2   = .64                                                      NOT    SIGNIFICANT

Table  No.  20

Mean, SD and t Values between Pre Test and Post Test for Experimental Group

 of Female Learners - ATTITUDE TEST.                                 N = 200

Test	Mean	SD	r	T  value	Remark
Pre  Test	66.56	6.07	.86	3.72	S(.01)
Post  Test	82.40	8.14

                 M1-M2   = 15.84                                                               SIGNIFICANT

Table  No.  21

Mean, SD and t Values between Pre Test and Post Test for Controlled Group

 of ALL learners - ATTITUDE TEST.                                               N = 400

Test	Mean	SD	r	t  value	Remark
Pre  Test	64.48	4.58	.77	.30	NS(.05)
Post  Test	65.44	4.45

                     M1-M2   = .96                                                 NOT     SIGNIFICANT

Table  No. 22

Mean, SD and t Values between Pre Test and Post Test for Experimental Group

 of ALL learners - ATTITUDE TEST.                                                  N = 400

Test	Mean	SD	r	t  value	Remark
Pre  Test	65.52	4.46	0.89	6.29	S(.01)
Post  Test	82.64	5.78

                 M1-M2   = 17.12                                                                 SIGNIFICANT

Findings and Conclusion

It was found from inferential analysis of Pre Test results for Attitude Test that Rural and Urban, Male and Female, as well as All learners were almost similar for Controlled Groups and Experimental Groups. This indicated that Controlled Group and Experimental Group everywhere for attitude scale were similar. This was verified from Tables 3 to 7. After experimentation, it was observed that in Rural area, the Experimental Group and Controlled Group had no significant difference. But, in Urban Area, this difference was significant in favour of Experimental Group. Similarly, Male and Female groups had also significant differences in favour of Experimental Group.  Similar results were obtained for whole group also. It can be seen from tables 8to12.  In case of Attitude change towards Mathematics, the results indicated that Controlled Group (for Rural, Urban, Male, Female and All learners) had no significant difference (tables 13,15,17,19,21). But, on the other hand, all these sub groups in Experimental Group had a significant change in their Attitude towards Mathematics (Tables 14,16,18,20,22). It shows that Video programmes and Tutor support combination was effective in changing Attitude of Experimental Group learners. Only Tutor support had no such effect upon the learners of Controlled Group. Thus, it was found that Video Programmes along with Tutor support have potential for changing Mathematical Attitude among X Standard NIOS learners and therefore, was recommended for use among the target group.                                  

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