Ever since pre independent India there has been requirement of imparting education. In 1910, during the British empire, a separate department was created for imparting education to Indian people. When India became independent in 1947, a full-fledged ministry was formed on August 29, 1947. The ministry, today, has three main departments for catering to services related to imparting education right from elementary and secondary level to higher education and also for women and child related education. Efforts have been continuously advancing for value addition to create better and better environment for career, livelihood, upliftment, and for creating knowledge society.

Efforts put into at lowest level .i.e. at the primary level, demand imparting of education at secondary level. This happens even to further higher level and, thus, generating requirement of education for many and many to be trained in various fields including Engineering, Technology, Science, Humanities, R&D, management and so on. In order to impart training to heterogeneous community like in India which is the 2^nd largest democratic nation in the world, there has to be all possible approaches to reach the national goal of imparting education to all. The Constitution of India guarantees free and compulsory elementary education up to grade VIII (age of 14); and, in 2002, Indian constitutionally guaranteed its citizens `education' as a fundamental right (Panda, et al., 2005). Although there are more than 888,000 educational institutions in the country with more than 179 millions of enrolment, covering 149.4 million students between 6-14 years for elementary education constituting approximately 82% children population in India in this age group (Darpan, 2005), the goal is impossible to achieve unless ODL is adopted and efforts are made from all corner including learners, teachers, govt. and the society. There are still other reasons for it. The first and foremost is the large portion of the Indian population living in rural areas which proves to be yet another milestone to be achieved for reaching them. Similarly, target group for imparting education is also diversified in terms of age, individual requirements, sex, economically rich and poor and so on. Geographical constraints, urge to enhance one's knowledge, needs of society for professional education, an endless effort to learn about newer things are another reasons. It is in this direction that ODL institutions are getting opened in states and at national levels. For the elementary education, which is again the 2^nd largest system in the world, Open School system has been adopted at both state and national levels.

This paper deals with the practices in existence towards online learners support in Indira Gandhi National Open University for imparting higher education not only in India but also in other 37 countries.

ODL IN INDIA

Distance education was started in India in 1962 in the form of a pilot project through correspondence course in the University of Delhi. Having discussed at many forums through various committees, a recommendation was made to set up an “Open University”. The very first step towards this was made in 1982 by Government of Andhra Pradesh, one of the States in India, by setting up an open university to strengthen non-formal education in the state and to provide “access to higher education to the adult population of the State, for upgrading their functional capacities and improving quality of their life in context of broader social and political objectives and equalization of educational opportunities and the emergence of a new concept of life long education” (Panda et al. 2005). The model chosen was that of the British Open University.

Soon, Govt. of India decided to have an open university at national level and a bill was moved in the Parliament to set up Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). The bill addressed education for all, life long education, weaker and disadvantaged section of the nation (Kulandaiswamy 2005). As the result, IGNOU was set up on September 20, 1985. The idea which was initiated in early 70s became reality after 15 years by setting up IGNOU at national level by an Act of Parliament. Today, IGNOU is seen as one of the most popular and pioneer open institution in the world having more than 1.4 million of students. It combines in it the functions of a regular university and a national body to promote, coordinate and determine the standards of distance education in the country. With the evolution of new methodologies in imparting education and aid to both learners and the teachers distance education is proving to be boon in providing access to the spatially and geographically disadvantaged.

To promote education at state levels there are 12 state level open universities. Distance Education Institution (DEI) which offer courses in dual mode of educational delivery has grown from one in 1962 to 104 in 2004. The programmes on offer cover all from certificate to doctoral degree. To take care of the need of further marginalized group National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) has been in existence with state level branches. The Distance Teaching Institutions (DTI), which were 115 in 2004 could cater to the educational and training needs of about 2.5 million students, constituting 24% of the total number in higher education. Out of the total enrollment IGNOU alone contributed to about 50%. As per (Dikshit, 2005) DEIs in the country offered nearly 300 academic programmes and 2230 courses. All the distance education programmes in India are promoted and maintained for their standards by Distance Education Council. It was established by IGNOU in 1992 with unique mandate to focus its role as an apex body of distance education in India. It supports State Open Universities (SOUs) and Correspondence Course Institutions (CCIs). Programmes offered by CCIs are through the dual mode universities and they impart education through correspondence/ distance mode.

IGNOU PROGRAMMES

IGNOU academic programmes on offer vary from community based short term to doctoral level. They cover a wide spectrum, starting from awareness courses, say, on Internet and eMailing or a course on office automation tool. Other programmes are related to certificate, PG certificate, diploma, advance diploma, PG diploma, bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. degree. Course design and development procedures are rigorous, based on the principles of good practices in curriculum development and Self Instructional Material (SIM) design. In order to accomplish the mammoth task it utilizes the expertise available in-house and with international and national institutions and non-government organisations in the team approach. The programmes are developed for the various fields to cover learners from rural and tribal areas, disability groups, jails and rehabilitation houses, government and non-government sectors, parents and home-makers, employers and the employed. IGNOU offers today a total of 125 academic programmes as listed below :

Nature of Programme - Programmes on offer

Awareness - 02

Certificate & PG Certificate - 34

Diploma - 17

Advance Diploma - 03

PG Diploma - 21

Bachelor's - 15

Master's - 19

Ph.D. - 14.

Above programmes altogether offer 1020 courses. Details are available at the IGNOU web site www.ignou.ac.in .Students on roll in theses programmes are found to be 1433490 in 2005-06. When compared theses data with that of 2001-02 the figures area : programmes - 72, courses - 854, students on roll - 429542. It is also seen that 298987 students got registered in 2001-02 while the same in 2005-06 is found to be 804271. With regard to performance evaluation it is observed that 538931 got registered for term end examination -2005, a total of 614668 got degree/diploma/certificate awarded till the 17^th convocation in 2006 out of which 75174 were awarded at the 17^th convocation in 2006 (Brainstorming Session, 2006). Such a remarkable achievement in students enrolment and interest is not only because of one reason. While the IGNOU programmes are seen to be popular and attractive for all in the country, the course delivery and services to student through IGNOU site are equally found to be contributing multi fold. This happens because of innovations almost in all respect for better and better delivery and support. With the objective of making the course delivery at the door-steps all efforts are put in to facilitate the students through IGNOU web site for static and dynamic information.

SERVICES TO STUDENTS

An open and distance delivery system has a number of activities required to be performed. Some of the main activities, for the student's services, are the following :

In order to have an effective and efficient system for information flow, better management control, and quality student service web based applications may be found to be very effective. Activities to be performed are like in the conventional system but with some differences. Once admission is given to students, they are supplied with study materials and other information regarding counseling sessions, examination centre, study centres and so on.

The very first requirement is that of bridging the gap of distance between learner, teacher, and the service provider. Once student takes admission, then making available SIMs to the right address at the right time, that is, well before conducting the counseling session is the next challenge. Bringing out regular updated SIMs, Multimedia CD's, web contents etc. are another challenges need to be addressed time and again for updating the materials. Target group may not have access to library system, whether online or offline in their neighborhood. Hence SIMs have to be self-explanatory and presented in concise and precise manner.

Performance evaluation in terms of quizzes, assignments and examinations are required to be carried out in each semester (term end). Evaluation activities, as such, are further required to be met. Preparing for appearing examination (pre-examination) invites requirements like : getting registered for those many courses in that particular semester, submission of examination form for writing examinations for the courses (at most) registered for, preparation of Examination hall ticket/Admit card and making the same available to eligible students, apart from other administrative and monitoring reports for arranging examination halls and preparing hall wise list of students/invigilators/assistants and so on. Once the evaluation of examination papers has been accomplished, it requires to prepare the result, semester wise and comprehensive, and then informing students through post or through web site. Further preparing convocation list, and for others like list of awardees etc. may be required towards post-examination activities. Meta data maintenance has to be sufficient enough for meeting all kind of requirements including management reports for day wise operations, MIS and others for the apex body at the top management level in terms of strategic reports.

Communicating with students is yet another aspect to be met preferably, through eCommunication. Addressing general queries, timely feed back, and communication with students/teachers/coordinators/service providers and so on using the state-of-the-art technology in terms of eCommunication, tele/video/radio conferencing should have sufficient coverage for effective delivery. Hence, virtual campus setting up, their running, maintenance and management has to be efficient and effective enough to interact with students, time and again for occasional address, orientation, and imparting education in ODL

STUDENT SUPPORT THROUGH IGNOU SITE

Regional Centres, Study Centres, and Tele Learning Centres all over India and in other countries come together through internet using web based applications running at IGNOU site. As stated above, both static and dynamic information are made available with frequent updating of the site. After the students are admitted at the country wide Regional Centres (Total - 65; IGNOU RCs - 33, IGNOU Sub RCs - 7, Recognised RCs - 25) and at the partner institutions abroad (at present 37), they are allotted Study Centre (in case of RCs admission) in their neighborhood at the nearest location. Partner institutions abroad have different status as compared to Study Centres. In case of Study Centres, activities and payment towards services are governed by RCs where as in case of PIs payment is not released by IGNOU but payment is made to IGNOU by PIs after having deducted their share (which is based on number of students admitted at PIs). For IT stream, there are 22 Tele Learning Centres established (one each) at IGNOU RCs to take care of on line courses in terms of course delivery and for practical sessions. This resource is also available for Master in Library Science and Diploma in Computer Integrated Manufacturing (leading to B.Tech in Mechanical Engg.).

As in other ODL institutions, IGNOU students admitted are from various background - some may be working on transferable job, some with parent's transferable job, some may be female students married while pursuing the course and so on. Hence there is requirement of “address changes” around the year. Similarly when Term End Examination (TEE), at the end of each semester, is held in June and December every year, results are required to be put at IGNOU site so that students could know about their performance from any where they have access of internet. Prior to conduct of the TEE Hall Ticket ,for appearing in the examination, is required to be made available online. Input to the Hall Ticket comes from the earlier submitted Examination Form, provision for which has also been made through the IGNOU site, apart from off line submission of the form. Comprehensive Grade Card, which reflects all the courses in terms of marks/grade obtained by individual, is also required to be made available through IGNOU web site. Similarly when Entrance Tests are conducted, as the pre requisite for taking admission in some IGNOU's programmes like: Management Programme, Bachelor in Education, Bachelor in Nautical Science and so on ,then, respective results are required to be put on site. Other applications through virtual data base which are required to be put on IGNOU web site are study material dispatch status, final certificate/diploma/degree dispatch details (if not collected in person on the convocation day) and notifications on various schedules like: Practical examination, TEE, TV channels , Radio Counseling, Edusat programmes apart from other which are required to be provided ,now and then, for the benefit of students and also for those who wish to be IGNOU students.

Having seen the enormous requirement towards student support services as above IGNOU developed the very first application for the comprehensive “Grade Card” and “Address Checking”. The response in terms of access to IGNOU site was overwhelming. Demand started pouring in to us for further coverage in terms of wider applications for student support services. The next application in this internet based virtual data base approach was declaring the semester wise “Term End Examination Result”. This had further better response through the web site hits. Today, applications corresponding to all requirements as enumerated broadly in previous paragraph are available on line. This has resulted in great demand of frequent updating which takes place almost daily. Once the data is available from Service Divisions, they are prepared and uploaded, in most of the cases, on the same day. The IT Division runs all seven days a week hence concerned officials have to see that such requirements are met even if it demands to come on weekends and holidays. A tour to IGNOU web site will enrich with all such facilities being delivered on line.

Performance of such applications in terms of successful hit are periodically analysed using Alexa utilities to get feedback about the products deployed on line. Reports so obtained have always been encouraging and overwhelming.

Metadata is maintained separately for Student Support Services in Microsoft environment. Integrated modules talk to each other for data sharing. Application servers are maintained and populated by in house team. There is a separate in house team responsible for maintaining and managing browser/mail/DNS/Web and other project related servers.

CONCLUSION

Advantages of virtual data bases and internet applications can be planned and worked out for bringing more and more facilities to ODL learners and making the delivery system friendly, in time, and demanding. When planning about technology for distance education we must keep in mind that the distance learners need clear goals and objectives. Web sites and on line service deliveries must be congruent with the course and course goals. Such services must be prompt enough in responding to all queries. System design, as such, must be exhaustive to accommodate total and prime requirements with enriched metadata. Alternate solution for the system, proper and sufficient manpower support, adherence to time frame are some of the vital issues which require attention of one and all in providing support services. System should be flexible enough to meet the demand based requirements from learners for delivery, answering to queries keeping in mind the various needs and motivations for enrolling in distance education.

REFERENCES

Brainstorming Session (2006), “Brainstorming Session”, IGNOU, 8^th June, 2006, New Delhi

Darpan (2005), Monthly magazine for Indian Airlines, July 2005

Panda, S., Venkaiah V., Garg, S., Puranik, C.,(2005),”Tracing the Historical Developments in Open and Distance Education”, Four Decades of Distance Education in India, edited by Suresh Garg, V Venkaiah, Chambi Puranik, and Santosh Panda, Viva Books Private Limited, New Delhi,India, pp. 3-23.

Kulandaiswamy, V.C. (2005),”National Education Policies vis-à-vis Distance Education”, Four Decades of Distance Education in India, edited by Suresh Garg, V Venkaiah, Chambi Puranik, and Santosh Panda, Viva Books Private Limited, New Delhi,India, pp. 24-38.

Dikshit, H.P. (2005), “VC's Report at the 16^th Convocation”, IGNOU, March 2005, New Delhi