CREDIT SYSTEM CHAPTER

CHAPTER
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CREDIT SYSTEM
Q3.1
What is meant by ‘credit’?
Ans.
While designing an academic programme, the workload to be undertaken by a learner
pertaining to each course has to be fixed. For this the term ‘Credit’ has been introduced.
‘One credit’ is equivalent to the workload which can be completed within 30 hours of
study time from the point of view of an average distance learner. It includes all learning
activities like reading and deciphering the self learning material, listening to the audios
and watching the videos, writing assignment responses, attending counselling sessions
face-to-face as well as through teleconferencing. An average learner is supposed to
work for about 1000 hours in a year. Accordingly during one year courses worth about
32 credits are offered by the university.
Q3.2
How do you arrive at the figure thousand hours per year?
Ans.
Normally in a year there are 104 weekends. And in a conventional institution of higher
learning there are about two months’ holidays plus vacations and at least about a month
equivalent of working days is spent for all examinations. So, about 200 days are such
on which no classes are held. This leaves approximately 160 days for holding classes.
If on an average a student attends classes for 6 hours a day it means that he is taking
part in teaching-learning activity for 160 x 6 = 960 hours in a year.
Q3.3
In a college we have only classroom teaching. But here you have mentioned other
modes of teaching like reading the self instructional material, listening/viewing
of audio-video etc. How have you drawn the equivalence?
Ans.
You are right to point out that self learning and teaching-learning transaction through
face-to-face modes are different. So, assessment about requirement of time for each
activity cannot be done in an equivalent framework. The exercise only helps to assess
the workload that can be taken up by a student within the limitation of his capability.
Q3.4
Do you work out any break-up of the 30 hours into different learning activities?
Ans.
Though technology is used to a great extent by ODL institutions for teaching, the print
medium happens to be the mainstay. This means audio, video, satellite based teaching
etc. are by and large supplementary to this printed material. The reason behind such a
situation is that there are many students in remote areas where electricity is quite scarce
and one cannot be fully dependent on programme dissemination through electronic
media.
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However, as a rough estimate we generally assign 20 hours to the print medium that is
for reading and deciphering the contents and also for working through the exercises
given therein. The remaining 10 hours are distributed among study related interactions
which includes access to audio and video programmes and also the satellite based
programmes.
As a matter of fact it need not always be both audio and video programmes. It should
essentially be a judicious combination of the electronic media subject to their availability
and demands of the curriculum.
Q3.5
How a credit is earned?
Ans.
By taking examination. Normally for a six to eight credit course we have 100 marks
examination and for four and two credit courses we have respectively 50 and 25 marks
examination. Correspondingly you also have provision for continuous evaluation
through assignments.
Q3.6
Does the number of credit of a particular course reflect on the workload of the
teachers?
Ans.
It is an interesting question and the answer may be lengthier than what you might have
anticipated.
As explained earlier it basically reflects on the workload to be undertaken by the students
but as print materials have to be written it is necessary for a course writer to know how
much he has to write for a particular course. The analogous scenario in the classroom
situation is the practice of mentioning the number of lecture hours against the courses
to be taught as given in the syllabus booklet of any conventional university. If the
number of lecture hours is ‘n’, it implies that the course has to be covered within ‘n’
number of lecture hours. Depending on that the teacher makes adjustment regarding
the length of a lecture on a topic to be delivered at the classroom. Similarly the course
writer has to visualise how much a distance learner will be able to decipher within the
given number of hours. Hence, the course contents get regulated accordingly.
Thus the scheme in a way also reflects on the workload to be taken by the course
writers.
Q3.7
I have been told that one has to clear 96 credits in B.A./B.Com. How does one
select those credits?
Ans.
B.A./B.Com etc. are called programmes in IGNOU parlance. Every programme is a
combination of courses. Every course is a combination of blocks (i.e. the booklets
which are prepared) and every Block is a combination of Units (which is the ODL
equivalent of Chapters). Credits are attached to courses. B.A./B.Com is a package of
courses worth 96 credits. Each of these being a three year course, in every year a
student has to take 32 credits.
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Why is a student of B.A./B.Com made to study Foundation in Science &
Technology?
Ans.
IGNOU aims at developing in a BA/BCom/BSc learner reasonable language
competency and imparting broad based knowledge in the areas of Humanities, Social
Sciences, Science and Technology to every graduate.
Q3.10
What are the benefits of doing Application Oriented Courses?
Ans.
Along with the general stream courses the students learn the real life applications of
work they study during their graduation. Thus their employability quotient gets raised.
Q3.11
How do you work out the credit allocated to the project courses?
Ans.
It again depends on the workload which we expect the student to undertake. For example
in MBA a student has to take 21 courses out of which two courses are meant for the
project work. In other words 2/21 ~ 10 % of the total package of courses is to be
devoted for the projects. This means 10 % of the total credits allocated to MBA
programme is meant for the projects.
Q3.12
How many credits are assigned to a Certificate Programme?
Ans.
Generally 16 credits for six month Certificate Programmes. There are some Certificate
Programmes of one year duration for that the number of credits will be more than 16.
Q3.13
How many credits are assigned to a Diploma Programme?
Ans.
Generally 32 credits for one year Diploma. There may be variation in case of certain
Post Graduate Diploma Programmes.
Q3.14
How many credits are assigned to a Masters Programme?
Ans.
For 2 year duration the number of credit is 64 (32 credits in each year).
Q3.15
You have related credits with time. What about someone taking more than the
allotted time?
Ans.
No problem. One is free to take and devote time as per one’s schedule, cognitive level,
etc. It is a facet of openness. The time durations have been decided from the point of
view of an average learner.
Keeping in view the requirement of a slow learner it is in the scheme of the ODL
system to provide for the provision of a maximum permissible time for the completion
of the programme.
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Q3.16
How do you go about assigning credits to the practicals?
Ans.
It depends on the number of hours a student has to work in the laboratory for working
through the practical experiments. Generally there are guided as well as unguided
experiments. The former is taken into consideration for conducting the practical classes.
The latter is related to examination.
•
By working through the practicals we mean the aggregate of all activities such as
understanding the task pertaining to the experiments, learning to handle the devices
and equipments, performing the experiments, presentation of the results through
calculations, graph etc, and responding to oral questions, if any.
•
By laboratory we do not essentially mean a science laboratory. For example for
B.Ed it can be a school, for DECE it can be a creche, for Nursing it can be a health
centre, for PGDMCH it can be a hospital, etc.
Q3.17
Can you explain the implementation of credits in a practical course, say for B.Sc?
Ans.
In B.Sc there are 2-credit and 4-credit practical courses. For a 4-credit practical course
the total number of hours is 4*30=120. Hence, for a 4-credit course a student has to
work for 12 days (10 hours each) and for a 2-credit course he has to work for 6 days.
Within these 10 hours the learner is supposed to complete all the assigned activities.
Q3.18
Why are the unguided experiments not considered for determining the credits?
Ans.
A student is supposed to perform the unguided experiment on the day of the examination.
Credits are regulated only with reference to the study hours which are determined by
way of the guided experiments.
Q3.19
Is there any flexibility regarding the number of credits to be selected for a practical
course?
Ans.
For certain programmes like those offered by SOET, SOHS, SOCIS, SOCE, SOE the
practicals are compulsory. For B.Sc there is a flexibility as well as a restriction. Out of
the 72 credits of elective courses one may choose any number of credits for a lab-based
elective, but out of those courses at least 25% of the credits should be for practical
courses. For example if someone has chosen 12 credits of physics than out of 12 at
least 3 credits should be selected, from among the practical physics courses.
Q3.20
What is the link between credit system and semester system?
Ans.
Semester means 6 months. Out of these 6 months the total time for teaching-learning
transaction is about 3 to 4 months. The courses that are to be dealt within a semester
are planned prior to the beginning of the semester. While preparing this plan the quantum
of activity pertaining to the courses handled in a semester is always kept in mind.
Assigning the credits facilitate the above quantification. Likewise we may plan for
completion of the teaching-learning transactions of 16 credits in a semester.
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Q3.21
I studied in Burdwan University for BA. I wrote the first year examination and
have passed. I discontinued my study while doing my 2nd year. I therefore could
not complete my three-year study and did not get the degree. If I join now in
IGNOU for BA programme, can I complete the study in one or two years and get
BA degree?
Ans.
As of now you have to study three years in IGNOU to obtain BA degree. But you will
get credit exemption for the courses you have cleared at Burdwan University subject to
the equivalence of such courses in terms of number of credits being accepted by IGNOU.
Q3.22
I am a graduate. I have also done Diploma in Library Science (one year full time
course). I have 5 years of experience of working in a library. If I join for BLIS
from IGNOU, can I get any privilege like exemption from studying any paper or
from the practical papers?
Ans.
As a matter of fact credit exemption is applicable only in such cases for which credit
equivalence of course completed elsewhere has been accepted by IGNOU.
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