THE INSTITUTE FOR THEOLOGICAL AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT (ITLD)

 THE LEARNING CENTRE AS AN EDUCATIONAL FACILITY

WHAT IS A LEARNING CENTRE?

Simply put a learning centre is a concept providing the following :-

·        a place with facilities for reading and research,

·        an enabling occasion for the meeting together of staff and students for interaction support, grappling with issues, and for planning and evaluation.

A Learning Centre is not only geographical but experiential.  As a geographical location, ITLD has established five learning centres (4 in Jamaica) and (1) in Grand Cayman).

As an enabling occasion a learning centre can also be a congregation, a support group, or a small group meeting of tutor and student whenever and wherever the occasion may arise.

RATIONALE

The students who study in ITLD are placed throughout Jamaica and in Grand Cayman.  Students are found in every parish in Jamaica.  It was therefore necessary to make both staff tutors and teaching facilities available to them.

In a residential situation, it is possible to have students in one central location, and hence the need for one central large library.  This is not feasible with the decentralized mode adopted by ITLD. 

Facilities have to be made available to students as close as possible to their contexts.

Although ITLD full-time students come together in one location for formal classes once a month for one week, it is still necessary to make personnel and material available during the other three weeks of each month. 

The approach is a form of distance education.  Students learn by doing, with assistance from Supervisory personnel and Staff tutors.

 This approach requires a high degree of motivation and determination in addition to careful time management in the part of the students. 

Students determine their study schedule, give attention to assignments, and their practical work in the field.  It is a very challenging approach, but can be a very rewarding and satisfying experience for the student.

 MAIN PURPOSES OF LEARNING CENTRES

1.         To provide opportunities at regular intervals, for students to meet fellow students and tutors.

2.         To provide access to various study/support facilities.

3.         Students can meet individually or in groups with full or part-time tutors in the subjects they are studying.

4.         Local congregations are empowered as together with students they engage in dialogue, plan together, and evaluate  programmes.

CLIENTELE

Many persons have over the past years made use of the ITLD  learning centres.  Although the students are the main users, yet it is pleasing to report that a variety of professionals and others have been using the materials.

Chief among these are:

1.     Students in all programmes, namely, pastoral ministry, guidance and counselling, lay pastors’ work, youth ministry, and church and community work.

2.     Tutors - for preparation to teach and also for directing students in their reading and research.

3.     Clergy and Full-time Workers.  It is pleasing to observe the number of clergy from Surrey and Cornwall Councils who use these centres.

4.     Students in the Evening Institute and who study in the lay pastors programme and in Guidance and Counselling in the Cornwall and Surrey Councils.

5.     Congregations in Councils.

Persons who are not necessarily enrolled in the programme but who need specific information have made much use of the periodicals, internet and newspaper clippings in addition to books.

           6.     Researchers and Writers.

This group is beginning to access information.  Although not big at the moment, yet encouragement is being given to this.

MANAGEMENT OF THE CENTRES

Regional Directors and Staff Tutors operate from the Centres.  They:

1.     Provide general information about programmes and courses and suggest ways to work with contexts, home, family and community.

2.     Visit students regularly in their placements for the following reasons,

a.     teaching

b.     counselling

c.     observing

d.     planning

e.     evaluating

3.     Liaise with congregational support groups in order to encourage congregations to become active participants in the ministerial formation and professional growth of students.

4.     Assist in the continuous development of new programmes as the need arises.

IS THE LEARNING CENTRE A NEW CONCEPT?

ITLD has learned from other institutions which have utilized similar approach to program delivery. 

Institutions which deliver education by distance, use the concept of the learning centre in a variety of ways.  Some places provide a variation which is called a study centre - place where tutors meet students. 

 For example, the University of Zambia began offering degrees to external students in 1967 a year after the university began.  The target population has always been adults who have had no opportunity to pursue university level education due to various reasons, especially their occupational and family responsibilities.  Through their Residential Schools of two-week duration each year and week-end schools tutors visit students in their locations.  Students are given opportunity to:

1.     Discuss problems of mutual interest with fellow students.

2.Use the library.

3.Buy books from the bookshop when available.

4.Receive academic counselling from and discuss academic issues with their lecturers.

3.Solve administrative issues with the staff of the Department of Correspondence Studies.

During the week-end schools, lecturers go out to main centres of student population and conduct seminars or tutorials to supplement lecturer/student contact.  Week-end schools give lecturers a deeper insight of student problems.  Lecturers find that their visits boost student morale.

 The Correspondence and Open Studies Unit (COSU) of the University of Lagos was established to provide degree courses, initially in science education and business  studies.  Courses, which used correspondence as the main means of teaching, were developed at Lagos, but made available throughout Nigeria.  The purpose of the study centre is to provide opportunities, at regular intervals, for students to meet fellow students and tutors; and to have access to various study - support facilities.  It also serves as a distribution point for course materials and student assignments.

The same approach is used by the Lesotho Distance Training Centre, the University of Zimbabwe and the Kenya Institute of Education.

The Ministry of Education, Jamaica (1990), instituted the distance education mode for the upgrading of certificate trained teachers to diploma status.  Much of the work has been carried out in small tutorial groups throughout Jamaica, with the teachers gathering in one central location for one week-end per month, and for two weeks in the Summer and Christmas breaks.

The Presbyterian Church in New Zealand uses the Community Based Training for Mission (CBTM) approach.  Students are in their context full time and gather in study groups once a month for reflection.  They receive training through the Know Theological Seminary in Auckland from which they graduate with the BA in Theology.

PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES AND RESTRAINTS

Students will need to be very diligent in planning use of time, keeping a strict balance between their commitments to personal concerns, church/community obligations and time for using the facilities of the centres for study.

They will also need to be proficient in the use of the library, the Internet and other facilities available.

Staffing of the centres therefore becomes critical.  Trained personnel in the classification system, the readers’ advisory service and technology in education and information technology is a necessity.

BENEFITS

            The use of the study centres by staff and students allow for the following:

1.     More follow-up assistance is given to students.

2.     Detailed follow-up for lecturers in the

3.     formal one-week classes.

4.     Accessibility to both tutors and educational materials.

5.     Both target group (students) and others benefit.

6.     Students do not have to travel long distances to access information.

CONCLUSION

            It is fair to say that the Learning Centres are fulfilling their intended purpose by enabling students to have access to educational material within easy reach.

            Learning Centres using a multi-media teaching approach not only provides instructional materials but also planned fact-to-face pedagogical dialogue as both students and tutors engage in evaluation, planning and teaching/learning episodes.

            Students also draw strength from one another as they share experiences and study together.

REFERENCES

1.         MATIRIE, Barbara.   ”Distance Education in Kenya: A Third World View”

From SMITH, P. and M. KELLY, eds.  Distance Education and the Mainstream

Groom Helm, Beckenham, 1987.  pp 57 - 73.

2.         NALOVU, S. D.    “Principles for the Development and the Evaluation of a Distance Teaching University: A Guide for Developing Nations 1979.

3.         WHITE, Adlyn.   Papers prepared for Jamaican National Tutoring Workshop 1990.