The document discusses a study that identifies the roles and competencies of academic counselors in distance education. It reviews relevant literature, describes the methodology used in the study, presents results on the top roles and competencies of counselors, and discusses the findings. The study found that the top roles of counselors were as a tutor, assessor, coach, and counselor. It also identified the top competencies needed and lack of training for many counselors currently.

1. Open Learning | Vol. 20, No. 2 | June 2005 | pp. 147-159 Roles and competencies of academic counsellors in distance education Sanjaya Mishra Indira Gandhi National Open University, India

5. Review of literature (Fig)

9. Results Recived Needed

10. Results (cont’d…) 4 373 98.6 Tutor 6 331 97.3 Supervisor 5 333 90.5 Mentor 7 318 83.8 Demonstrator 1 432 98.6 Counsellor 3 379 94.6 Coach 2 386 98.6 Assessor Rank Weighted score Percentage Roles Roles of academic counsellors

11. Results (cont’d…) 70 Skills to assess the learning outcomes/ assignment responses 5 71 Knowledge of evaluation methods and principles 4 72 Knowledge about how distance education works 3 73 Willingness to learn new approaches to teaching and learning 2 74 Knowledge of subject/ discipline 1 Frequency Competencies Rank Five top competencies

12. Results (cont’d…) * Significant at 95% confidence level with p value 2.02 ** Significant at 95% confidence level with p value 3.92 7.335** 1 Training in DE .746 2 Experience as academic coounsellor .419 7 Teaching experience 2.272* 8 Age groups .424 1 Gender F value df Variables ANOVA for self-rating of competencies and independent variables