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Scholarly Research Journal for Humanity Science & English Language, Online ISSN 2348-3083, SJ IMPACT FACTOR 2019: 6.251, www.srjis.com PEER REVIEWED & REFEREED JOURNAL, DEC-JAN, 2021, VOL-9/43

COUNSELLOR’S PROFESSIONAL ATTITUDE TOWARDS LEARNERS DEVELOPMENT IN ODL Prof. Sajjan Shankarrao Thool (Ph.D. in Edu.), Associate Professor, Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University, Nashik-422222 Email- thool_ss@ycmou.digitaluniversity.ac

sst9771@rediffmail.com

Abstract ODL and traditional education system, both are working for learner’s development. Teacher is working in traditional education system and Counselor is working in ODL education system. Counsellor’s professional attitude is most important for learner development because he removes the query, problem and questions of learners. Y. C. M. Open University is established to provide education for learners in Maharashtra state in India. The objectives are, to find out the counselor’s professional attitude towards learners development. And to find out the counselor’s professional attitude between Men vs women, Arts, commerce, science and research discipline, and teaching experience. The scope of study was only YCMOUs counselor in Maharashtra state. Survey method has to be adopted for data collection. 226 counselor of YCMOU are selected randomly as a sample for this study. Own made Counselor’s Professional Attitude scale is used. 30 items are in the Counsellor’s Professional Attitude scale and out of 30 items, 13 items are positive format and 17 items are in negative format. The data has analyzed as per objective of study through Counsellor’s professional attitude scale. The findings are, Counselor’s Professional attitude have positive attitude towards learner’s development. Key word: Counsellor, Counsellor’s Professional Attitude, Open and Distance Learning (ODL)

Scholarly Research Journal's is licensed Based on a work at www.srjis.com Background of the study Open and Distance Learning education system is introduced in 18thcentury. At that time, the correspondences courses were offered for farmer’s education, workers in industry and in service employee and for deprived people. Open Universities and Directorate of Distance Education Institutions are offering the various programmes to enhance the ability and giving opportunity to learners those who are far from education, increase the knowledge, skills and attitudes. It is to be fulfilling through ODL education system. A large number of learners are taking the admission in Open and Distance education and it helps to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio of higher Education. Learner gets easily admission as per minimum criteria for admission. ODL Institutions are preparing the Learning material in Print and Non print format. The academic Counsellor’s are conducting the counselling for learner and learning Copyright © 2021, Scholarly Research Journal for Humanity Science & English Language

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material helps to learners for self learning. Any query or problems of learning they solve with the help of counsellor. The learners are enrolled at the study centres and they get various academic and non academic facilities at their study centres. Counsellor’s is the main academics at the study centre. The Counsellor’s have various responsibilities like that academic work, learner’s problem solving, Academic counselling and formative evaluation. Counsellor means those who are working as a teacher at their traditional college or University and they are working as a full time faculty, part time faculty, on clock hours and are working as a counsellor in ODL system. Well panned contact session of counselling is conducting by the Counsellor’s. Counsellors are connected with various activities from admission to evaluation of learners and their work related human resources at their study centre. Counsellor’s profession is as a teacher who has responsible to solve the queries, questions, inquiry and problems of the learners. Counsellor’s should to know the Open and Distance Learning systems, Learners mental ability, learners ability, information and communication technology, emotions to counselling, learners age factor, learners admission procedure, University academic programme information, learners internal assessment activity, to carrying the relationship between coordinators, co-Counsellor’s, administrative workers, learners, to help the University and to carrying the positive attitude towards learners for developing their learning. That means, the researcher wants to know the counsellors attitude towards learners development. Need and Importance of the study The student gets the academic guidance and counselling from counsellor. Learners in ODL system are facing the more queries, problems regarding learning. It has solved by the Counsellor’s of the learners query. Positive attitude and interested counsellors may have emotions to solve the learners query. Positive attitude counsellor’s are proper implemented the all academic activity with smoothly and health atmosphere with to learners. Near about 15 thousand counsellors are working at study centres of various programmes of YCMOU, Nashik. This is the need to know that the counsellor’s attitude towards learning development is the most important to enhancing the teaching-learning and evaluation process in ODL system. We can know that counsellors attitude towards learners development through the

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Counsellors Attitude Scale. Researcher has developed the attitude scale to find the Counsellor’s attitude toward learner’s development. Title of research problem A study of the Counsellor’s Professional Attitude towards learner’s development in ODL Objectives of the study 

To find out the Educational and Professional activity of counsellor’s at study centre.



To find out the Counsellor’s professional attitude towards learner’s development in ODL system in the context of Men vs women, Urban Vs Rural, Arts, commerce, science and research discipline, and teaching experience.

Assumption 

Counsellor having positive attitude towards learner’s development.



Counsellors are solving the learners query, question and problems at their study centre.



Counsellor’s role is most important to learner’s development.

Research scope and limitation 

The Counsellor of Y.C.M. Open University has been selected for this study.



Counsellor of arts, Commerce, Science and Research degree are selected for this study,



Male and female Counsellor’s are selected at various study centres of YCMOU.

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Research data are used in the year of 2015-2016.

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Total 226 Counsellor’s as a research sample are selected for this study.



Counsellor’s related academic and non academic activities are studies.

Research Methodology Survey research method is used for this study because to find the counsellor’s present attitude towards learner’s development and data was collected through survey methods and counsellor’s attitude study is related to present situation. Lottery technique of random sampling methods is used for this study. Four regional centres of YCMOU are selected from eight regional centres. 226 Counsellor’s are selected from four regional centres which are belongs to Arts, Commerce, and Science and research degree disciplines. Male and female counsellor, teaching experience holder, Educational discipline variables wise are analysed the data. For the measurement of Counsellor’s profession attitude towards learner’s development, Copyright © 2021, Scholarly Research Journal for Humanity Science & English Language

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the researcher is developed the Counsellor Profession Attitude Scale with the help of content experts who are working in Open and Distance learning system. Counsellor’s appointment procedures may be done at study centres with the prior approval of the University. Academic and Non academic responsibility are certainty fulfilled by counsellor at their study centre. Duties and responsibility, Counsellor role, Open education system, Student-counsellor interactions, involvement in admission process, orientation a programme to solve the learners problems, counsellor attitudes, role in counselling, internal assessment, participation in examination, assessment of learning, formative feedback is given to learner, human relation at study centre, use of ICT and to understand the open and Distance Education system. These measures are included in counsellor attitude scale. 30 Items are in this scale, 13 items are positive and 17 items are negative type in this scale. Content reliability is tested with help of experts who have experience in ODL system. Five point scales were used i.e., Very Agree, Agree, Undecided, Disagree and Very Disagree. In the month of March 2016, data are collected through this scale from Counsellor’s who are working at various study centre, these are located in Nasik, Kolhapur, Aurangabad and Nagpur Regional centres of YCMOU. Data collection, Analysis and Interpretation The research data have been collected from 226 Counsellor’s through Counsellor’s Profession Attitude scale. All the data is gathered, analysed and interpreted as per sample size. According to gender wise, there are 168 male Counsellor’s and 58 female Counsellor’s out of 226 Counsellors, 182 Counsellors are in Arts discipline, 25 Counsellor’s are in commerce discipline, 17 Counsellor’s are in science discipline and 40 Counsellor’s are M.Phil. / Ph.D. degree holders. According to teaching experience,84 Counsellor’s having below five year teaching experience, 69 Counsellor’s having 06 to 10 year teaching experience, 26 Counsellor’s having 11 to 15 year teaching experience and 47 Counsellor’s having above 15 years teaching holder was 47 Counsellor’s And According to designation wise, 175 Counsellor’s have Assistant Professor Designation. 27Counsellor’s have Associate Professor Designation, 23 Counsellor’s have Professor Designation. These are the variables in the sample of this study. Counselling Professional Attitude (CPA) Scale is developed by the researcher. 30 Items are in this scale, 13 items are positive and 17 items are negative type in this scale. The

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marking scheme is used for analysis the data as per following table the opinion level marks for negative and positive items in counsellor’s professional attitude scale.

Weightage Very Agree (VA) Positive +3 Items Negative -3 items

Agree(A) Undecided Disagree Very (U) (D) Disagree (VD) +1 0 -1 -3 -1

Difference between weightage (VA)+(A)(D)+(VD) (VA)+(A)(D)+(VD)

Five points scale is used for data collection. Opinion marks are defined as per positive and negative item with reference to five point scale. Positive and negative item wise opinion marks are calculated as per following table. Positive Item

Marks

Opinion level Negative Marks Item Opinion level

31 to 90

30 to 1

-1 to -30

-31 to -90

Very favorable -31 to-90

favorable Undecided

adverse

-30 to -1

+1 to +30

Very adverse +31 to +90

Very favorable

favorable undecided

adverse

Very adverse

As per above table, Values are used for interpreting of the data analysis. Counsellor’s Profession Attitude (CPA) scale is filled by the counsellors and its related data was collected from the 226 Counsellor’s.

Each counsellor should to have obtained maximum marks

between -90 to +90 marks as per positive and negative item wise. But after that analyzed the data, counsellor obtained their opinion marks between 02 to 60 marks out of 90 marks in favorable. This was positive attitude towards learner’s development. Further table shows the counsellor’s professional attitude towards learner’s development with help of marks classification and its qualitative description. Opinion marks range is 02 to 60 marks; it has converted into the six interval class. Higher and lower positive attitude are defined as per above 50 percent upper side and 50 percent lower side values. This is only for identification of the counsellor’s attitude.

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Marks of Classification 0-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60

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Qualitative Descriptions Lower Satisfactory Positive Attitude Lower Average Positive Attitude Lower Good Positive Attitude Higher Satisfactory Positive Attitude Higher Average Positive Attitude Higher Good Positive Attitude

1. Higher and Lower wise analysis of Counsellor’s Professional Attitude There are two Higher and Lower side levels of positive attitude and also defined three sublevels (Satisfactory, Average and Good) in each lower and higher side positive attitude. Sr. No.

Levels

Total Counsellor’s

Percentage

1 2

Higher side attitude Lower side attitude

117 109

51.76 48.24

As per above table, and 117 counselors means 51.76 percent counselors have higher side positive attitude toward learners development and 109 counselors means 48.25 percent counselors have lower side positive professional attitude toward learners development. Means, more Counsellors have higher side professional positive attitude towards learners development. 2. Gender wise analysis of Counselor profession attitude Sr. No. 1 2

Gender Total Counselors Male 168 Female 58

Opinion/marks range 02 to 60 07 to 54

Mean 32.89 31.10

Difference between Mean +1.79 Male

As per above table, 168 Male counselors means 74.33 percent male counselors and 58 female counselor means 25.67 percent female counselors have been selected as a sample for the data collection. Male counselors obtained marks range of 02 to 60 and Female counselors obtained marks range of 07 to 54 marks. And the Male counselors mean is 32.89 and Female counselors mean is 31.10. In that context, male and female counselor’s difference between mean was +1.79 with the favor of Male counselors. It seems to clear that about more Male counselors having Positive Attitude toward learner’s development than female counselors.

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3. Educational Discipline wise analysis of Counselor profession attitude Sr. No.

Discipline

Total Counselors

1 2 3 4

Arts Commerce Science Research

161 18 19 28

Opinion range 02 to 60 16 to 59 04 to 59 07 to 59

/marks

Mean 32.73 32.68 28.70 34.7

As per above table, 182 counselors means 80.53 percent counselors are belongs to arts discipline and it has follows 40 counselors means 17.70 percent counselors are belongs to Research discipline, 25 counselors means 11.6 percent counselors are belongs to Commerce discipline, 17 counselors means 7.52 percent counselors are belongs to Science discipline. The counselors of Research discipline have more positive attitude (M=34.7) towards learners development than arts (M=32.73), commerce (M=32.68) and science (M=28.70) discipline counselors. 4. Teaching experience wise analysis of counseling profession attitude Sr. No. 1 2 3 4

Classification of experience year 0 to 05 06 to 10 11 to 15 16 and above

teaching

Opinion / marks range

Mean

02 to 59 04 to 59 07 to 60 08 to 58

32.88 33.20 33.42 29.92

As per above table, 11 to 15 years teaching experience counselors having more positive attitude (M=33.42) towards counseling than 06 to 10 years teaching experience counselors having positive attitude (M=33.20), 0 to 05 years teaching experience counselors having positive attitude (M=32.88), 16 and above years teaching experience counselors having positive attitude (M=29.92) towards learners development. Findings Following findings are an under, 1. More counsellors have positive Counselor’s professional attitude towards learner’s development. 2. More male Counsellor’s have positive attitude than women counselors (difference M=+1.79). 3. More Counsellors of research discipline have positive attitude (difference M=+2.1) than serially Arts, commerce and science discipline counselors towards learners development. Copyright © 2021, Scholarly Research Journal for Humanity Science & English Language

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4. More 11 to 15 years teaching experience holder have positive attitude (difference M=+3.45) than 15 and above teaching experience and 0 to 10 years teaching experience holder have low (difference M=+0.22) positive attitude towards learners development. 5. More Professors have positive attitude (difference M=+4.60) than Assistant and Associate professor towards learner development. Suggestions: This research is most useful to Open and Distance learning education system. Counselor’s attitude towards learner’s development must be reliable to learner’s learning for their cognitive, affective and psychomotor development. Counsellor’s professional attitude is positive toward learners’ development. It is most useful for ODL system. This counselors attitude scale should be used while appointment of newly counselor. Counsellor’s attitude scale should be compulsory to each counsellor of the every Open and Distance Education institutions for finding the counsellors professional attitude. If the counselors have not found the positive attitude, a training programme may organize for the counselors to increase their positive attitude. 9. Reference Best, J. W. (1993 )‘ Research in Education ’ (Fourth Edition )New Delhi ,Prentic Hall of India Pvt .Ltd. Cook, T. D, Rcichardt C T (1979) :Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Evaluation Research, Sage Beverly Hills, California Hubert,K. Rampersad, (2004) :Total Quality Management, New Delhi, Springer. Manjulika S. and venugopal,reddy, (1999) :Unexplored Dimensions of Open Universities, New Delhi, Vikas Publishing house Pvt. Ltd. Rowtree, D. (1994) : Preparing Materials for Open, Distance And flexible learning , Kogan Page, London. Rastogi, Satish. (2003) : Principles and Practices in Distance Education, YCMOU, Nashik Rastogi, Satish. (2002) : Multimedia development for counselling to counsellors , YCMOU, Nashik Shekhar, K. Joshy., Chitra Sehgal.,(2014),Educational Technology; Delhi, pacific books International Sharma, B. M. (2002) : Distance Education, Commonwealth Publisher, New Delhi.