Virtual Tutorials in Adult ODL: A WizIQ Case Study of Wawasan Open University

Abstract

Wawasan Open University (WOU) was established in 2007 with the sole aim of providing affordable and accessible higher education opportunities to working adults in the fields of business, technology, education and liberal studies. As part of its Open Distance Learning (ODL) delivery, WOU provides tutorial support for students every semester through 5 sessions of 2 hours each. These tutorials are considered to be crucial in the learning process as they provide an opportunity for students to get their doubts clarified by a subject matter expert (tutor) in a synchronous environment. In the initial years, the University used face-to-face and video conferencing modes for conducting tutorials. However, both these modes have their own limitations. As a possible alternative, WOU has since ventured into Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) in the form of WizIQ to remedy some of these limitations. This paper discusses in detail the processes which took place in migrating to WizIQ tutorials and provides some best practices for implementation.

Keywords

• open distance learning
• students support system
• virtual learning environment
• vle
• virtual tutorial
• wiziq