Student support service is an important concept in the field of distance education, and it is also a great contribution of distance education to the development of basic theory and practice of pedagogy. The idea and concept of student support service originated from the rich practice of distance education in the Open University of England. According to Robinson, a British distance education expert, before 1978, there was no formal literature to record the analysis and research on the subject of student support in distance education. 1977 the word "support service" does not appear in the introduction to the open university of Britain published by the open university of Britain. 1978, Professor David Sewart of the Open University of England published the article "Continuous Attention of Distance Learning System to Students" at the Distance Learning University in Hagen, Germany, and formally put forward the concept of "student support". This article has aroused great repercussions in academic circles, which can be regarded as the first systematic exposition of student support services by western scholars. In this article, David Sewart elaborated the important role of student support service, and actively advocated that industrialized distance education must attach importance to serving people. His initial definition of student support is: "Student support in distance open education is a service industry, and its universal principle is to meet the interests of most people in the service industry." In later research, he defined student support as a means for learners to make full use of the functions provided by distance education institutions. As an intermediary, student support can explain all kinds of materials and procedures of complex distance education system to students in their language.
65438-0983, in the book Distance Education: International Outlook, co-edited by David Suvat, Ji Geng and Holmberg, listed "student support service", "media selection: new communication technology" and "curriculum development" as the core contents of distance education for the first time. This is another milestone development of his student support service thought. In the "Student Support Service" chapter of the book, there are articles written by David Sewart and others about the distance teaching and student learning support service of the Open University in the UK.
Second, the nature of the theory.
As the founder of the concept of "student support service", david hume Oort devoted his life to the study of the theory of student support service. He has been the editor of Open Learning magazine of the Open University of England for more than 20 years, and has written a lot of articles on student support services. The theoretical essence of David Sewart's student support service mainly focuses on the following three aspects:
(A) Infinite elements: the composition of student support services
1993, David Sewart wrote "Student Support Service System in Distance Education" in Open Learning magazine, and made a theoretical summary of the development of student support service in distance education in various countries. He thought that the constituent elements of student support service system are almost infinite, and the student support service system in any distance education system is unique. What kind of student support service to provide depends on the market positioning of distance education, the curriculum package used in distance education and so on. The student support services provided by distance education institutions may include but are not limited to the following:
● Collective teaching in the learning center; ● Individual counseling in learning centers or other places;
● Annual boarding school (compulsory or voluntary); ● Learning or self-help groups;
● Social activities; ● Consult and answer questions in the learning center;
● Communication and guidance between tutors and consultants; ● Telephone communication with tutors and consultants;
● Group telephone consultation; ● broadcast counseling;
● "communicate" through audio tapes; ● Communicate through computer media; ● Student newspaper.
(B) continuous concern: the essence of student support services
David Sewart's exploration of the teaching theory of distance education can be summarized as the proposition and demonstration of the conclusion that the attention of distance education students should be continuous. This theory is called "continuous concern" and is the essence of students' thought of supporting service. David Sewart does not agree that the teaching package of distance education system can complete all the functions of teachers in face-to-face education. He pointed out that if it can, it will become an infinitely expensive package, and it must reflect the complex interaction process between teachers and each student. David Suvat, after discussing the efforts made by the course developers of the distance education system to make a "teaching package that should be perfect", thinks that this is impossible, and it is the teacher who makes the teaching package perfect. Tutors, consultants and student consultants, as the media between learning materials and individual students, play an irreplaceable role no matter how perfect the teaching facilities are.
David Sewart's theory of continuous concern is based on two premises:
1. In the most complicated bureaucracy, there must be a mediator (social worker).
David Sewart thinks that a social worker is needed as a mediator between government agencies and citizens. Mediators are employed by the agency, but work independently in the system. When there are problems between government bureaucrats and citizens, he answers citizens' questions one by one. Similarly, nurses play a similar role between hospitals and patients. This intermediary acts as an interactive medium.
2. The environment of distance education students is very different from that of conventional face-to-face education, mainly due to the lack of rapid information feedback and mutual comparison in the collective environment.
David Sewart thinks that what he did in the Open University of England is not fundamentally different from what his colleagues in the traditional education system did. All kinds of education constitute a continuous pedigree, one end of which is complete face-to-face tutoring, and the other end is that there is no interpersonal communication in the whole process of teaching materials learning, so distance education is in a certain position in this continuous pedigree of education.
Then, he compares distance education with the most complicated bureaucratic politics and traditional teaching forms, and draws a conclusion by analogy: only by introducing human factors (teachers) can the distance education system meet the individualized learning needs of students, and it is necessary for the distance education system to add an intermediary between students and teaching packages. He believes that in the distance education system, educational institutions provide learning materials to guide students, which will lead to endless problems, which requires distance education institutions to have the functions of consultation and teaching guidance in addition to providing teaching materials and teaching packages. The provision of these functions is ideal at any time, that is, it must be continuous and can meet the needs of students in time. These functions should also be part of a colorful system, which can meet the needs of students' autonomous learning in the distance education system.
David Sewart further believes that the key to ensure the teaching quality of distance education system is the persistence of attention. This view strongly refutes those who think that distance education is only the production process of teaching materials. He believes that distance learning students are not born to study independently. Students' abilities of self-study, self-control, choosing information resources and controlling the learning process need to be gradually cultivated and developed with the guidance and help of schools and teachers. Therefore, compared with traditional education, distance education colleges and teachers should pay more attention to students and provide better student support services and other services. Otherwise, distance students will encounter various difficulties, which will affect the learning effect and teaching quality and lead to the loss of students. Student autonomy is the result of constant care and support for students, not the starting point.
(C) Service industry: the attribution of student support services
David Suvat believes that although distance education is an industrialized form of teaching and learning, student support service should be regarded as a service industry rather than a manufacturing industry in the situation that customers are paid more and more attention all over the world. The production and consumption of distance education are carried out simultaneously in the same process, and students and tutors must actively participate at the same time. The whole process conforms to most general principles of the service industry:
● Service industry is an activity;
● The service industry is intangible and cannot be transported or stored;
● The production and consumption of the service industry are carried out simultaneously;
● The process of consumers' participation in the service industry.
Based on the concept of service industry, David Sewart pays special attention to students' needs and systematic methods to deal with interpersonal relationships. He believes that in distance education, the independence of time and space further promotes the separation of elements, so the overall design of distance education is always the most important. If from the students' point of view, the separated elements in the whole process can't cooperate with each other well, the educational goal can't be achieved. Subject experts who participate in the separation of various elements of distance education do not understand the characteristics of other elements and their relationships. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully plan and effectively control the elements of the whole process.
In the paper "The Future of Student Service" published at the 20th World Congress of 20001International Distance Education Council, David Sewart expounded the goal of the British Open University in the new era. This goal transforms the whole teaching organization into an organization that provides support and guidance for distance students to adapt to the application of new technologies in online learning, including e-mail and web browsing. But there is no doubt that there is a lot of evidence that online learning is developed like a commodity in many fields, rather than as a customer service.
Third, practice innovation.
David Sewart's knowledge and understanding of student support service is based on his long-distance education practice for more than 30 years. At the same time, his practical work in the Open University of the United Kingdom has never deviated from the concept of student support services such as continuous attention he advocated. David Sewart himself is the most loyal practitioner of the theory of continuous concern. He is very concerned about the learners of distance education, and thinks that the learners of distance education are usually adults and amateur learners, not necessarily with higher education background. This makes it necessary for distance education institutions to provide personalized services to applicants and learners at any time. The shaping and research of the role of "mentor-counselor" embodies David Sewart's practical innovation, which can be described as his outstanding creation in the field of practice.
(A) "guidance-consulting teachers" responsibilities
In the early days of the British Open University, student support services were mainly undertaken by three types of teachers, namely correspondence teachers, course guidance teachers and consulting teachers. Correspondence teachers are responsible for correcting and evaluating students' homework remotely; The course instructor is responsible for providing face-to-face course counseling at the local learning center; The consultant is responsible for providing extensive educational guidance in the local learning center, such as how to study. But practice has proved that these three roles overlap, and students can't distinguish the division of labor of teachers. After several reforms, the Open University of England finally decided to play the role of "mentor-consultant", taking David Suvat's "continuous concern" theory as its philosophical concept.
In the Open University of the United Kingdom, each freshman is assigned to a "guidance-consulting teacher" appointed by the local learning center, who is responsible for the guidance of all basic courses and other consulting support for freshmen in their first year. These services are mainly in the form of face-to-face instruction, supplemented by letters, telephone calls, internet and other forms according to students' needs. "Counseling-consulting teachers" are generally part-time teachers, but we must fully understand our students. According to their advantages and disadvantages, we should encourage students to make full use of various learning resources provided by the Open University, observe their performance, and help them in time when they encounter learning difficulties, so that students can become qualified distance learners as soon as possible.
After the first year, students need to entrust the guidance of other courses to professional teachers of other courses. However, as local consultants, "guidance-consulting teachers" provide students with stable and continuous support services throughout their study career in the Open University of England, and are responsible for their development. This makes the "tutor-consultant teacher" no longer a simple consultant, assistant teacher or evaluator, but an important resource for the teaching and management of open universities in Britain. When students ask questions, but the "guidance-consulting teacher" can't provide the answers immediately, they can seek help from the regional center. Therefore, for students, "guidance-consulting teacher" has become an omniscient support service provider. In this sense, "guidance-consulting teacher" is a loyal practitioner of "continuous concern" for students.
(B) "Guidance and Consulting Teachers" management
There are thousands of "tutors-consultants" in the Open University of Britain. In view of the important position and role of this role, the Open University of the United Kingdom has incorporated the management of "mentor-consultant" and professional course instructors into the human resource management planning of the whole organization, and strictly grasped the links of recruitment, selection, entry, on-the-job and resignation.
1. Recruitment. The Open University of Britain attaches great importance to attracting high-quality candidates with its good reputation. Recruitment notices are usually published in the form of newspaper advertisements and brochures, which specify the responsibilities and ability requirements of candidates in detail.
2. choose. The selection is based on the principle of university fairness. The full-time teaching staff (tutor director) of the regional center determines the list of interviewers through the application form submitted by the applicant and organizes the interview. At least two interviewers are full-time staff.
3. entrance. The new "guidance-consulting teacher" must attend the corresponding training meeting in the first two years of work, and arrange an experienced local teacher for one year's guidance. In addition, new employees will get a manual, which includes detailed job introduction and explanation of key concepts of teaching, guidance and consultation for open students.
4. At work. On-the-job management of "guidance-consulting teachers" in the Open University of England is mainly the responsibility of full-time teachers in regional centers, including the management and evaluation of their on-the-job performance, such as evaluating their correction of students' homework. After working for one year, the newly recruited "guidance-consulting teachers" will be evaluated, and those who do not perform well will be forced to receive more training.
5. Leave your job. Because the Open University of Britain has invested a lot of capital in training all kinds of part-time teachers, including "tutors-consultants", when a course is cancelled or the number of registered students decreases, the corresponding teachers will be relocated to other positions as much as possible. However, there will still be turnover, but its operation is fair and impartial.
David Sewart deduces the proposition of continuous concern in practice, and always thinks that student support service is the fundamental advantage of distance education institutions, which enables the Open University of Britain to successfully solve the old problems in the distance education system and avoid the possible high dropout rate.
Fourth, enlightenment.
David Suvat is a supporter of the concept of "student support service" in the field of distance education. He has been paying attention to the founder and faithful practitioner of this theory. He devoted his life to the research and practice of student support service, and he is a master of the theory and practice of student support service, and also a practitioner of distance education. His theory comes from practice, serves practice and has great vitality. Its theoretical achievements have important guiding value for us to understand the phenomenon of distance education and successfully carry out the practice of distance education. The enlightenment of its theory and practice to our distance education research and practice is summarized as follows:
(A) the key idea of the success of distance education
David Sewart advocates "supported open learning" and always thinks that the key to the success of distance education lies in paying continuous attention to students. When designing and organizing distance education activities, distance education organizations should also focus on students' learning rather than teachers' teaching. The starting point of all teachers' actions must be to promote students' effective learning. It is the effective service that makes the British Open University successful.
At the same time, David Sewart once said that the successful construction of open universities in Britain benefits from students with strong learning motivation and good academic background, while the success rate of learning groups with poor academic background, insufficient motivation and poor social situation cannot be said to be satisfactory. The Open University of Britain recently decided to devote itself to "opening up", that is, to further explore its students. These freshmen will need more personalized support to help them master a lot of knowledge provided by higher education. The same is true of other countries in the world, and China is no exception. Today, with the vigorous development of adult education, the students of distance education are extending downward, which is in danger of the overall quality decline. Therefore, in the face of this situation, how to further provide effective student support services, stimulate the learning motivation of distance education learners at all levels and improve their autonomous learning ability and effect will become the key to the successful development of distance education institutions in the future.
(B) Thinking about the organizational characteristics of distance education
David Sewart believes that the elements of the student support service system are almost infinite, and the care and service for students are continuous. Every distance education system should have its own uniqueness. This not only emphasizes the importance of student support service in distance education, but also reveals the idea and root of running a characteristic distance education institution.
In China, 68 colleges and universities approved by the Ministry of Education to carry out modern distance education pilot projects have given full play to their respective advantages and initially demonstrated their respective characteristics after several years of development. However, there are still some problems such as the convergence of specialty settings, the similarity of teaching service models and the confusion of market competition. The reason is that the pilot universities are busy with scale expansion, ignoring the advantages of service content, service target groups and service institutions, deeply tapping their own potential and striving to build distinctive brands. The characteristics of distance education, such as spanning time and space, strong openness and convenient resources, make it necessary for distance education institutions to have their own characteristics in service and survive with service characteristics and brands. Service is the key to the success of distance education institutions, and working hard on service is the idea and source for distance education institutions to run their own characteristics and form their own characteristics.
(C) Thinking about the industrial attributes of distance education
When David Suvat put forward the concept of student support service, he also compared the student support service in distance education with the service industry. He thought that the student support service in distance education has the nature of service industry, and distance education institutions should provide appropriate learning support services to meet the needs of learners in addition to teaching packages. In real life, the difference between goods and services is not always obvious. Many institutions not only work hard on commodities, but also pay more attention to services.
Distance education is a new field that integrates occupation, industry and specialty, and information technology and education intersect. Industry is one of its attributes. Distance education has the characteristics of "industrialization", accompanied by the provision and use of tangible products such as teaching materials, but its basic output is still educational service, which has the characteristics of intangible, process, difference, fragility, inseparability, customer participation in the production process and other service products. Therefore, on the whole, distance education belongs to the service industry and should follow the basic laws of the service industry. Studying and guiding distance education from the perspective of service industry provides us with a new perspective, which is conducive to grasping the essence and laws of its industry through complex phenomena, re-examining the relationship between "teaching" and "learning", teachers and students, curriculum resource development and student support services, and analyzing the cost composition and quality connotation of distance education, especially for scientifically constructing the quality assurance and management system of distance education services, which opens up broad prospects.
(D) Thinking about the construction of student support service team
Part-time teachers are the main providers of student support services in distance education, the spokesmen of distance education organizations and important human resources. David Sewart and the Open University of England attach great importance to this and incorporate it into the overall human resource management planning of the organization. In this respect, there is indeed a considerable gap between distance education institutions in China.
The general operation mode of distance education institutions in China is to concentrate the functions of the host institutions (or institutions) on curriculum resource development and teaching management. Support services such as teaching, counseling and management in the learning process of specific courses are provided by part-time teachers (lecturers, tutors, etc.). ) and its learning center. As the service personnel of distance education, these part-time teachers, together with the administrators of distance education institutions and a few full-time teachers, form a complete student support service team, which usually shoulders the heavy responsibility of providing core services. However, in most distance education institutions in China, these part-time teachers are often regarded as supernumerary and temporary employees, and their teams lack relative stability. Therefore, it is necessary to bring it into the overall human resource management planning of the organization, carry out strict selection, serious training, scientific management and regular evaluation, and improve its service awareness and service ability through effective incentives.