ERIC EJ1099353: Hybrid Model for e-Learning at Virtual University of Pakistan

2005·0.76 MB·English

by  ERIC

Hybrid Model for e-Learning at Virtual University of
Pakistan
Saba Khalil Toor
The Virtual University of Pakistan, Lahore. Pakistan
[email protected], [email protected]

Abstract: Virtual University of Pakistan uses hybrid model of education to impart knowledge to the
knowledge seeker/students. This model has three basic components namely, physical campuses,
lectures broadcast through television network and the mentoring and tutoring of students through the
internet. This paper highlights in detail the working of this model and also indicates some issues that
were encountered and solution proposed to overcome them.

Keywords: Hybrid Model, Moderated Discussion Board (MDB), Graded Moderated Discussion
Board(GMDB), Private Virtual Campuses(PVC)

1. Introduction 1.1 The primary concept
By the end of 20th Century, most of the The concept of distance learning, e
countries all over the world had jumped on learning and consequently virtual
the ICT wagon. Some achieved the universities has already been used in
heights of success while others kept many countries worldwide. For example
struggling to make a niche for them University of Philippine Open University
selves. Pakistan being a progressive (UPOU) established in 1995 uses print,
nation also took the challenge and started audio, video and online resources to
to concentrate on achieving good name in deliver course material to the distance-
this arena. learning students, and once a month they
have tutorials on the learning campuses.
However by the year 2000 it was The African Virtual University (AVU)
becoming evident to the government of established in 1997, use satellite television
Pakistan that the targeted progress was and Internet to deliver higher education all
not being achieved, the major problems over Africa. It is working in collaboration
identified for this deficiency were: with African Universities to identify the
 Severe shortage of high quality faulty program needed for Africa’s development.
Upon identifying the programs the AVU
 Scarcity of seats for the students in
collaborate with best universities in the
the higher education institutions
world to developing content and delivery
 High cost of higher education
through the network to African students.
especially IT education

 Higher education institutes located in The idea of AVU was inspirational and the
the urban areas government of Pakistan started looking at
 Social factors that do not allow certain this model to see if they could customize it
people to go to other cities to their own regional needs.

The need of the day was to produce a
As mentioned above Pakistan has been
large number of educated forces within the
trying, for couple of decades, to generate
shortest possible time. The government of
niche for itself in the field of software
Pakistan conducted a feasibility study and
engineering and computer science. For
the report was presented to the United
this reason several private institutes have
Nations Development Program’s Pakistan
been established to impart the IT
Office [Peter T. Knight, Naveed A. Malik,
education. These institutes have all the
and Asim Iftikhar. 2000]. This report
necessary infrastructure to impart distance
strongly recommended harnessing the
education to e-learners, i.e. Computer
power of Information Communication
laboratories, lecture rooms and internet
Technology and establishing Virtual IT
services, and are located in the length and
University of Pakistan, which was later
breadth of the country, hence it was
called the Virtual University of Pakistan.
decided to involve the private sector into
This study quickly converted into the
this venture.
project of ministry of science and

technology. Pakistan
ISSN 1479-4403 ©Academic Conferences Ltd
Reference this paper as:
Toor S K, (2005) “Hybrid Model for e-Learning at Virtual University of Pakistan” The Electronic
Journal of e-Learning Volume 3 Issue 1, pp 1-10, available online at www.ejel.org
Electronic Journal of e-Learning Volume 3 Issue 1 2005 (55-64) 56
After the thorough study and analysis, the with best facilities available all over
mode for imparting education was Pakistan were chosen as their local virtual
finalized. It was decided that Virtual campuses, or Private Virtual Campuses or
University will locate and record the PVCs. About 28 virtual campuses in 18
lectures delivered by the best faculty cities were established. The structure for
available in the country, and even abroad the admission fees, university regulations
and broadcast these lectures on television and policies were devised. Private studios
network. The private sector partners of for recording and editing were contacted
virtual university will be given a fair share where the initial lectures were delivered.
to let the students utilize the facilities of The Pakistan Television Corporation was
computer laboratories, classrooms and approached to have a contract to deliver
internet, It will be mandatory for these the recorded lecture on Air, The publicity
private sector partners to provide campaign was launched to develop
television in each class room. These awareness about this new mode of
computer centers will be called the local education to the masses and the
campuses of virtual university or Private admission process was initiated
Virtual Campuses. Students from all over
Pakistan will be enrolled into this university After the seemingly unending and untiring
and they will go to their nearest virtual efforts of the VU team, Virtual University of
campus to receive education. Pakistan was inaugurated on 23rd March
2002 by the President of Pakistan and its
After listening to the lectures students will first lecture went on air on 2nd April 2002
then go to the computer laboratories with enrollment of 500 students from all
where they will connect to the universities over Pakistan.
online learning management system to get
the contents of the lecture and interact This was a brief introduction to the
with the teaching faculty. inception and launching of the Virtual
University of Pakistan. In this paper I will
There shall be one hub or head office of highlight the mode of communication and
the university. At this place all the policies methodology used to deliver real
will be made, contents will be developed education to virtually every nook and
and telecast and the teaching faculty will corner of the country and even abroad.
be seated behind their workstations trying
to educate the massive number of 2. Mechanism of imparting
students.
knowledge
1.2 Launching of the Virtual The model for the delivery of knowledge
University of Pakistan (VU) adopted by Virtual University is termed as
Hybrid Model [Saima N. Sherazi 2001]. It
After the approval of the above-mentioned is termed as hybrid because it utilizes:
plan, the government of Pakistan released  The facilities of class room and
the funds of about 16 million dollars in computer laboratories so that students
November 2001 to launch virtual university get the chance to interact with each
of Pakistan. It was started as a project of other
ministry of science and technology, IT and
 The television network to deliver the
telecommunication division, currently
recorded lectures to all the knowledge
known as ministry of IT. It was decided
seekers within and beyond the
that the university would officially start
geographical boundaries of the
operating from the last week of March
country.
2002. Thus the time provided to the team
 The Internet so that students can
of Virtual University for developing the
access the courseware and interact
infrastructure and the preparation for the
with the VU teaching staff.
initiation was less than five months.
Thus the model for the best delivery of
However during these five months the education, through this mode, is in a
team of less than 15 people located the triangular form as shown in the Fig-1
professors/consultants that would develop below.
the course contents and deliver/record the
lectures for the first semester. Private We will discus all the above-mentioned
sector partners were contacted and those components of this model, i.e. Physical
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57 Saba Khalil Toor
Campuses/Private Virtual Campuses, difficulty going to different cities, virtual
Lectures delivered through TV and campuses were opened.
Tutoring through Internet. However point
number 3, i.e. the tutoring through Internet These campuses have regular classrooms
will be explained in greater depth. where students actually sit and listen to
the broadcasted lectures. While listening

Lecture to the lectures they note down the problem
through
they come across its delivery. After the
TV.
lecture they go to the computer labs where
they interact with the teaching faculty
through Internet, the course contents,
assignments and all the supporting
Tutoring Physical material is available for them on the
through Campus
Internet Internet at the university learning
management system.
Figure 1: Hybrid mode of education
By this process students discuss their
2.1 Physical campuses/private problems, issues and difficult concepts
virtual campuses with the students of the same campus,
they do their projects and preparation of
It is important to discuss the role of the exams in the same manner as the
physical campuses/private virtual students of conventional education
campuses in the over all educational system. Moreover, due to the Internet they
requirement of the students. In order for also communicate with their classmates all
the student to grow and become a useful over Pakistan.
member of the society he/she should be
able to interact positively with its peers Thus the first component of the Hybrid
and elders. However in the traditional e- model prepares the students to enter into
learning model students interact with their the professional life in the same way as
teaching faculty as well as the other students from any conventional education
students through cyberspace. This mode system. They will be confident and fully
of education is very useful, convenient and prepared to interact with their co-workers
cost effective but due to the physical and seniors, and excel in a competitive
distance between its peers, the socializing and professional environment.
aspect of the education is missed and later
felt when these students have to work in At the moment there are 118 campuses
the groups where people are physically located in 62 cities of the country, where
present. Keeping this very important around 5000 students are receiving
aspect of education in mind and the education. Following is the image of one of
requirement that students need to study in our physical campus
their own hometown, as they have

Lab Sessions Lecture Sessions

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Students of virtual university from all parts
2.2 Lecture delivered through of the country listen to the lectures
television delivered by the same professor and thus
get the same quality of knowledge. This is
Pakistan has acute shortage of qualified of key importance in building the educated
and experienced teaching personals. This nation.
is true not only for the field of information
technology but also for the social science Virtual University has its own television
disciplines. The good faculty that we do station and post production studios now,
have is concentrated in few major cities of and broadcast the lectures over its two
the country. The small cities and rural area channels. The consultant professors
is devoid of the excellence in education. design the course for the university and
This creates a great divide in the quality of record their lectures for the television
education with in the country. Thus to telecast. These lectures are also available
spread education of high quality to all on the CDs and VHS for the students and
corners of the country and to minimize this Private Virtual Campuses (PVCs).
difference in the standard of education the Following is a glimpse of the working at
second component of Hybrid model is our television network:
used, i.e. Lectures delivered through TV.

Control Room Recording Studio

2.3 Tutoring through internet
2.3.1 Learning Management System
Since Virtual University is an e-learning
university therefore the utilization of the Learning Management Systems (LMS)
Internet and its services is inevitable. paradigm as defined by Paris Avgeriou are
Students use both Web and the emails to “specialized Learning Technology
communicate with the teaching faculty and Systems (IEEE LTSC, 2001a), based on
administration of the university. They the state-of-the-art Internet and WWW
access the contents of the courses and technologies in order to provide education
the supporting material over the Internet and training following the open and
by logging into Virtual University’s learning distance learning”. Most learning
management system software that is management systems have three types of
located on the server of Virtual University. user. First type is the student, second type
And direct their day-to-day administrative is the teachers/tutor and the third type of
issues through the email system. user is the administrator. Over the years it
has been seen that for the best delivery of
Tutoring through Internet is the third and the courseware every learning
very important component in our Hybrid management system should have the
model for education. The platforms used following features;
to impart knowledge over Internet are  The ability to include text, documents,
Learning Management System and Email. files of many types including Office,
I will discuss both these platforms but the audio, video, and images
learning management system will be  A grade book
discussed in greater detail.
 The ability to insert links of various
resources, both internet and intranet
 A section for the FAQs
ISSN 1479-4403 ©Academic Conferences Ltd
Reference this paper as:
Toor S K, (2005) “Hybrid Model for e-Learning at Virtual University of Pakistan” The Electronic
Journal of e-Learning Volume 3 Issue 1, pp 1-10, available online at www.ejel.org
59 Saba Khalil Toor
 Discussion board assessment questions. The pre and post
The VU-LMS has all the above features assessment questions are placed on the
embedded in it. Every student has his/her content area so that the students are able
account on LMS and can access its to assess their knowledge before and
contents by entering the unique login ID after the commencement of the lecture as
and password. After logging into the shown in the Fig-3 below.

system the student can see all the courses
for which he/she has been enrolled as
shown in the Fig-2 below.

Figure 3: Contents area on VU-LMS
Another important feature in imparting
education from the academic point of view
Figure 2: Courses for the semester of
is the process of assignments. I believe
students at VU-LMS
that assignments are very important mode
The student clicks on the course he/she
of imparting education to the students as it
wants to study and the new page is
force them to utilize their knowledge in
displayed. On this page the students can
solving various problems, and in return
access the contents of the lectures, the
their efforts are assessed and graded. The
assignments discussion boards and the
VU-LMS has the facility to allow students
most interesting feature the MODERATED
to view the assignment statements given
discussion board. See Fig-3 below.
to them, see the marked assignments. i.e.

the assignments are graded and
On the lecture content area the hyperlinks
commented by the teacher and are
to the lecture notes, in the form of word
uploaded so that students may learn from
document and HTML are placed. On each
their mistakes. They can also view the
content area there is a hyperlink to the set
marks they score in each assignment as
of multiple-choice questions, labeled as
shown in the Fig-4 below, and see the
pre assessment MCQs. After that there
general comments made about solution
are hyperlinks to the contents or
provided by the students. After the
supporting documents for that lecture,
assignment’s due date, the teaching
these contents may be in the form of word
faculty, upload its solution on VU-LMS, so
document, HTML PowerPoint slides etc.
that students may learn the best possible
After the hyperlinks to the contents there is
way of solving the given problem.
another link to the MCQs termed as post
.

Figure 4: LMS assignment page

Discussion Boards are another very the conventional mode of education. There
important feature of the learning are three types of discussion board
environment, be it the distance learning or available to the students on VU-LMS. In
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the first type students interact freely with irrespective of the geographical
each other and discuss their problems boundaries, and when a teacher responds
without any intervention from the teaching and explains the concepts to the posted
staff. This gives them the freedom of question, every one can see and get
thought. benefit instantly, thus it is equivalent to a
conventional class room where students
The second type of discussion board is ask a question, every one hear it and
termed as moderated discussion board when the teacher answers that question all
(MDB). On this discussion board students the students who had the same problem
put there questions or concerns regarding but were shy to ask are benefited as well.
the current lecture. And the teaching An example of the MDB on VU-LMS is
faculty responds to each question. The shown in the Fig-5 below.
idea is to simulate the mode of
classroom’s question answer session. Please note that for 3 credit hour courses
Every lecture that is delivered through the there are 45 (1 hour duration each)
television network has a corresponding lectures delivered on Television and thus
MDB on VU-LMS. On this MDB student there are at least 45 such discussion
ask a question, this question is seen by all boards opened each semester.
the students of the same class,

Figure 5: Moderated Discussion Board on VU-LMS

The third type of discussion board is more there are hyperlinks to important
termed as Graded Moderated Discussion sites and books available on the VU-LMS.
Board or GMDB. This is the extension of
MDB. This is the equivalence of the class
participation. Students are given a topic of
discussion a week in advance and then
are asked to come onto this GMDB for
discussion. Each student participates in
the discussion and the teaching staff
grades his comments and material of
discussion. The marks awarded are
equivalent to giving the marks to the
students for class participation. In this way Figure 6: Graded Moderated Discussion
students are encouraged to speak up and Board (GMDB)
put their point of view in front of the whole
class, which adds value to the education
2.3.2 Email
of the students. Example of the GMDB is
shown below in Fig-6. VU-LMS is not the only mode through
which students interact with the Virtual
These MDBs and GMDBs are great University of Pakistan; every student has
resource or knowledge banks, based on his/her email accounts on VU servers. Just
these MDBs FAQs are developed and as the student of other universities,
updated. This activity is generally students of Virtual University have various
performed after each semester. Further academic and administrative issues, for
example, the problem of late fee
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61 Saba Khalil Toor
submission, or change of physical tutor to judge and analyze the problem
campus/PVCs, and late assignment that his/her student is asking, and present
submission etc. In order to cater these the most appropriate answer for it.
issues of the student virtual university has
made email accounts for all relevant According to [Brigetti Denis 2004] the
departments, for example, admission, central role as linked to interaction
exams, course selection, registrar, between the e-tutors and the learner is
accounts, and for the course instructors of Content Facilitator, Metacognition
each subject. The most commonly used facilitator, Process facilitator,
email accounts are those for the teachers Advisor/Counselor, Assessor,
of all the courses, academics, registrar, technologist, resource provider.
accounts and exams. However every Furthermore the peripheral roles of e-tutor
student frequently e-mails their issues and are listed as manager/administrator,
sometime comments directly to the senior designer, co-learner and researcher. The
management, including the rector. tutors at virtual university are fulfilling all
the above mentioned responsibilities.. The
Thus the Hybrid Model of education specific tasks and responsibilities of these
practiced at Virtual University provide high tutors/e-tutors include.
quality education to students located all  To respond to each email that is
over the country, be it urban or rural areas, received from the students: The
and provide them the necessary queries that are generally asked by
socializing aspect of the education. the student are about their low grades
in the assignment, quiz, GMDB or
3. Roles and responsibilities of exam and the pleas to allow the
submission of late assignments,. On
the teaching staff
average each tutor has to answer
According to the teaching paradigm about 50 to 70 emails every week.
followed at the Virtual University of  To answer every question placed on
Pakistan, the best professor around the
the MDB: There are minimum 45 MDB
country are hired on contract to design the
forums, each corresponding to the
course content and record the lectures in
lecture telecast on the TV. On every
the Virtual University television centre.
MDB there are on average 40 to 60
Once these professors have developed
questions, the number of questions
the course material such as handouts,
posted on MDB depends upon the
assignments and the midterm/final term
number of students enrolled in the
exams and have recorded their lectures
course. Apart from these 45 MDB
they are no longer associated with the
forums there are at least two general
University. In order to take this teaching
MDBs, one before the mid term exam
process on and to deliver quality education
and the other before the final exam.
to the students there are e-tutors or tutors
These general MDBs are opened on
present. As stated by [sheena bamks
VU-LMS to allow students to ask the
2004] “In the Web based training, distance
question related to all the lectures they
education and in most other forms of e-
have studied so far and not just for
learning the teacher/tutor is very
one lecture.
important, sometimes more important than
 To grade each comment or discussion
in the traditional Education.”. This is very
point posted on the Graded Moderated
true; as for the students of distance e-
Discussion Board GMDB. The number
learning institutes there is a marked
of posting on the GMDB is also
divergence from the traditional face-to-
dependent on the number of students
face educational methods. The student no
enrolled in the given course.
longer has the luxury to step into the
professor’s room and get his/her points  To write and upload the assignments
cleared, or the teacher of this educational for their course on the LMS. There are
mode cannot determine, during the on average 8 assignments per course.
recording of the lectures, if all the students How ever in certain courses the
will actually comprehend the point in number of assignments is more than
question. Thus the responsibility of 10.
narrowing down this difference rests on  To mark all the assignments uploaded
the astute responses and knowledge of by the students: Every tutor has to
the tutors. It is the responsibility of the identify the mistakes of the students in
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the assignment and provide the professional manner. For each team there
comments for the better understanding is a senior tutor or team lead. The
of the student, and then send the responsibility of the lead is to manage and
assignment back to the student(on guide his team members in responding to
students VU-LMS account). On student’s questions and queries and think
average about 300 assignments are of the ways to improve the standard and
marked by each tutor every week. quality of course contents.
 To provide the solutions of the given
assignments: Tutors also solve the It is to be noted that the number of tutors
given assignment them selves and in a course is directly proportional to the
upload it on VU-LMS so that students number of students enrolled in that
can learn from it. particular course. The prescribed ratio is
one tutor per 300 students. Hence if the
 To prepare the quiz, upload it over
number of students enrolled are less than
VU-LMS, mark the quiz and display
300 than one tutor takes care of the
the result: The number of quiz marked
course.
depends upon the number of students

in the given course.
At the moment Virtual University is offering
 To provide the solutions of the given BS in 12 disciplines. For each discipline
quiz: Tutors solve the given quiz then there will be a senior faculty member
upload it on VU-LMS. termed as assistant professor. The main
 To prepare the midterm and final responsibility of this senior faculty will be
examination question papers: On to manage all the courses under his/her
average tutors have to set three to domain. i.e. for BS computer science, this
four examination question papers per senior faculty will manage all courses
exam. related to the field of computer science.
 To mark the answers of the midterm
and final examination given by the 4. The basic problems faced by
students. The number of papers the tutors and the students of VU
marked depends upon the number of
The hybrid mode of education is new and
students in a course, however on
unique in this region. Thus there are
average, each tutor marks about 300
neither any set rules nor processes yet
to 400 examination papers. The tutors
defined, implemented and tested, that may
also prepare the solutions of the
directly be incorporated into Virtual
examination questions.
University. Hence the team of VU is
 To upload and update the course
learning as it moves on. There are great
contents on the LMS: Tutors regularly
achievements to its credit but the path to
update the contents (lecture notes,
success is not without difficulties. There
FAQs etc.) of their course on the
are several problems that the, students as
learning management system (VU-
well as the teaching faculty faces. The
LMS).
nature of problem ranges from
 To update the handouts: For the better administrative to academic to
understanding of the course virtual broadcasting. However here i will highlight
university provide the handouts to the the academic issues and problems faced
student. These handouts are printed by both students and teachers
on paper and delivered to students
Furthermore tutors are constantly devising The students have reported following
ways to make their course more problems through emails, telephone calls
interesting for the students. For this and by visiting the Virtual University Head
purpose students are given challenging Quarter:
home works and course works. These  It is difficult to adjust to the class room
course works are not graded but they without the actual presence of the
develop interest of the student in the given teacher
subject.  The mode of education and
communication at VU-LMS is through
The structure of the teaching staff is such English language (lectures broadcast
that for every course offered, there is a are, however bilingual); this language
team of tutors working diligently to conduct is not the first language of the
the course in a most effective and Pakistani citizen. Hence at the
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63 Saba Khalil Toor
beginning they find it difficult to ask Further more it is under consideration to
questions and queries through internet utilize the television broadcast, and take
using English language. important questions from students (email,
 Since there are no one physically phone call etc..) and provide answers to
present to solve problems related to them on live telecast session called tutorial
the course lectures, especially in the sessions.
field of mathematics as the concepts
of mathematics are quite complicated 5. Summary
and difficult to explain via recorded
In order to educate the Pakistani nation in
lectures and internet, it is hard to
the minimum time, government of Pakistan
understand the contents.
adopted the Hybrid model of knowledge
The problems faced by the teaching transfer. Hybrid model of education
faculty are as under: involves the broadcasting medium such as
 Tutors are new to this mode of television, the Internet and the physical
education delivery and thus they campuses where the students are actually
initially find difficult to adjust and seated to receive education. The
respond to queries. Mostly it has been professors that are rated as the best ones
observed that tutors think they can in their field deliver the lecture through
explain a concept in a better fashion television broadcast. The teaching
had the student been physically faculties that actually interact with the
present there students are available over the Internet,
 In the case of Assignments, some and respond to student’s issues and
students tend to copy another problems through the email and the
students work, however it is not learning management system placed on
possible at the moment to determine VU server. The learning management
who solved the questions first, and system has the course contents, FAQ,
awards no marks for it. Thus tutor resources and links available. The best
feels that due to the distance they are mode of communication on learning
some time not able to educate management system (VU-LMS) is the
students to the fullest. Moderated Discussion Board (MDB). The
 Since the mode of instruction is in tutors or e-tutors play the pivotal role in
imparting education to the nation. They
English, Students are generally not
are mentors, guide and problem solvers
able to put their questions properly,
for their students. However since the
thus it is difficult to respond to the
concept of this mode of education is
students.
entirely new to this region there are certain
 It is difficult to explain complicated
issues and problems but the team is
mathematical concepts through MDBs
constantly seeking the solutions and
and email.
removing the problems.
 Students generally provide excuses
for not submitting assignments on
Reference
time. The teacher has no way to verify
his claims. Bamks S, Denis B, Fors U and Pirotte S
[2004] “Staff Development and e-
The team of virtual university under the
tutors Training”
guidance of the rector Dr. Naveed A. Malik
Denis B, Watland P, Pirotte S and Verday
is constantly evolving new ways to breach
N [2004]”Roles and Competencies
this gap between students and teachers.
of the e-Tutors”

Knight P T., Malik N A., and Iftikhar A
The idea of teaching assistant has been
[2000] “Pakistan VITU-SIIT
introduced at VU to cater the above-
Feasibility Study Main Report”
mentioned issue. Initially 39 teaching
Sherazi S N. and Ikram M J [2001] “A
assistants are appointed in various
Hybrid Distance Education Model
physical campuses all over the country so
For Pakistan”
that they can coach their juniors.

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