The Academic Staff Orientation Scheme of the University Grants Commission is perhaps one of the most ambitious schemes of the Government of India. Though some of the Western Countries have started similar schemes, the ASOS is perhaps the only scheme which has the largest and widest national coverage. The objective of the scheme is quite clear i.e. to motivate and initiate the young college and university teacher into the noble profession.
The second phase of the scheme through the introduction of refresher courses in the respective disciplines for senior lecturers has now started. Andhra University is one of the earliest in the country to start an Academic Staff College. In fact the University had pioneered by starting a four week training programme for the newly appointed lecturers in 1985, much before the UGC scheme of ASOS. The responsibility for this experiment was entrusted to Dr. K.S. Chalam.
The present anthology of articles was selected by the author to meet the needs of the Academic Staff Colleges. There are seven sections in the volume. The editor has taken care to include material relating to the three important components of the scheme. First, the theoretical foundations of the scheme both from the Western and Asian experiences have been provided. This is followed by the Socio-economic and philosophical perspectives in higher education. As the understanding of the process of learning is basic to a teacher, special contributions have been included in a separate section in this volume. The pedagogy of higher education has been provided in a detailed manner. The methods and techniques of evaluation in education are being given importance in the volume by incorporating a survey paper on methods of measuring academic achievement in the Third World countries. Academic administration and management of colleges and universities are examined by experts in the field in the last part of the anthology. A long term perspective of the academic functions of higher education is also given in the volume. Thus, the book covers the broad areas of the Academic Staff Orientation Scheme and hopefully will prove useful for the participants of the scheme.
The concept of Academic Staff Development in Higher Education was first developed in Europe. Different approaches have been followed in the developed countries to provide inservice orientation to their teaching staff working in the Universities. The UNESCO and other international agencies have also disseminated this idea across the countries of the world. The third world countries too have followed the idea as a pedagogical staff development and have also established specialised institutes to train and to provide inservice orientation to the teaching staff. The idea became popular in India after the National Policy on Education, 1986. Though some attempts have been made in this direction in some Universities including the Andhra University; it is only the University Grants Commissions' Scheme of Aca-demic Staff Colleges that has given a national status to the whole programme. There are, however some unsettled questions in this pro-gramme which deserve attention.
The Academic Staff Development Scheme must base its orientation on certain philosophical and socio-economic perspectives of the whole system. It must also provide the links between society, development and education. It is necessary that the newly oriented teacher should develop a broad horizon in working in the higher education system from a global context and view the possible changes in the future. The teachers in the colleges and universities are also expected to know about the influence of the family and class on the academic achievement of adult students in a classroom. The students should also be convinced by the teachers that education is an investment and in a developing country like India, it is a social investment. The ultimate aim of any education, they must be told, is to uplift the society and aid the process of development. The readings on the 'perspectives in higher education' are concentrated broadly on the above ideas.
Understanding the learning process is a prerequisite for any pedagogical development. There are certain theories of learning which are relevant to higher education. The teacher in higher education must understand the group dynamics of adults so as to systematically manage the classroom situation. There are theories of anticipatory and participatory learning which need to be understood to make the profession of teaching a creative activity. The contributions to the section on 'the learning process' concentrate on the basic theories of learning.
Obviously, the important function of a teacher in higher education is teaching. He should know how to develop innovative methods of teaching; particularly the samll group and the lecture methods in the colleges and universities. It is essential that the teachers in the higher educational institutions should be made to know the availability of various methods through which knowledge can be disseminated and new ideas imparted to the adult learners. The knowledge in the techniques of preparing a lesson plan will enable the teacher to deliver the lesson systematically and effectively in the classroom. Extension education has been accepted now as a social mission of institutions of higher learning in India. It has been used to make higher education socially relevant. It also comes under the broad category of 'project-method of teaching. The teachers will be benefited if the contours of this method are known to them. This section on 'the strategies of teaching is concentrated on the survey of the methods of teaching in post secondary education. They pointed out the diversity in higher education for experimenting with innovative methods of teaching.
After teaching, the teacher is expected to evaluate the performance of his students. He should know how to prepare test items and be in a position to evaluate his own courses that are offered in the college or university. It is necessary to study the recent developments in the examination system and the need for such a change in the university system in the country. An attempt has been made in this section to provide information on various aspects of measurement of academic achievement, evaluation and examination reforms.
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