5958 Extent of Awareness of Distance Learners of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University T.R. Sridevi Krishnaveni1, P. Balasubramaniam2, A. Anusuya3 and S. Vasanthapriya4 ABSTRACT The present research was framed to assess the awareness level of distance learners of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. Three certificate courses were selected based on maximum number of enrollment, viz, Gardening & landscaping, Mushroom production & Solid waste management and vermicomposting. Ex-post facto research design was employed. A total of 150 respondents were selected from the three courses by equal allocation method proportionate random sampling. A well-structured questionnaire was prepared and the information was collected by sending questionnaires through post. The 108 individuals who responded were taken as the sample for the study. The results of the research pointed out that nearly three- fourths of the respondents possessed medium level of awareness on selected technologies. Keywords : Awareness, Certificate course; Tamil Nadu Agricultural University; Open and Distance Learning INTRODUCTION 1 & 4 – Ph.D., Scholars and 3. P.G. Scholar, Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology, TNAU, Coimbatore; 2 – Professor, Department of Social Sciences, ADAC&RI, Trichy. Tamil Nadu Received : 128-08-2017; Accepted : 06-11-2017 Distance education, is a type that can be included under non-formal education. It is a structured learning in which the student and instructor are separated by place, and sometimes separated by time. It was once considered as a special form of education using nontraditional delivery systems but now has become an important concept in mainstream education even in agricultural education. The conventional agricultural schools at national, regional and state level could accommodate only two per cent of youth who desire to opt for agricultural education. Quality wise, distance agricultural education has inherent limitations about practical sessions and laboratory experimentations and interactive learning. Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore beyond its tri-fold function started a separate directorate for open and distance learning (ODL) for transfer Journal of Extension Education Vol. 29 No. 4, 2017 DOI:https://doi.org/10.26725/JEE.2017.4.29.5958-5965 Research Article Journal of Extension Education Vol. 29 No. 4, 2017 DOI:https://doi.org/10.26725/JEE.2017.4.29.5937-5944 5959 of technology with an objective to reach the unreached. Several types of courses are being offered at TNAU in distance mode and certificate course is one among them. This study has made an attempt to study the extent of awareness on critical technologies enhanced through ODL certificate courses of TNAU. METHODOLOGY Tamil Nadu Agricultural University offers different certificate courses through Open and Distance Learning (ODL) mode. Among the entire certificate courses only three courses were selected based on maximum number of enrollment, viz, Gardening & landscaping, Mushroom production and Solid waste management & vermicomposting. Ex-post research design was employed. A total of 150 respondents were selected from the entire three courses by equal allocation method proportionate random sampling. A well-structured questionnaire was prepared and the information was collected through mailed questionnaires method. After giving considerable period of time to send back their responses, 108 registered learners were responded. These 108 respondents were taken as the sample for the study. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Profile of the Respondents Among the respondents, nearly half of the respondents (43.52 %) who had enrolled in certificate courses in distance learning mode belonged to middle age group i.e, 35 to 45 years. More than half of the respondents (63.89 %) enrolled in the certificate courses at Directorate of Open and Distance Learning (DODL) were male and 36.11 per cent of respondents were female. Majority of them (30.60 %) were with higher secondary level education (28.70 %) and secondary level education (15.70 %). One third of them (33.30 %) had job in private sector followed by equal proportion of respondents having professions as self employment (23.20 %) and farming (22.20 %). Considerable per cent of them belonged to unemployed category (13.90 %). The respondents were distributed equally among urban and rural background category with 54.60 per cent and 45.40 per cent respectively. The overall analysis revealed that more than half of the respondents (66.70 %) had medium level of information seeking behavior followed by 19.40 per cent of them with low information seeking behavior. Awareness Awareness was operationalized as the respondent’s familiarity with the subject matter dealt in certificate courses in distance mode. From the table 1, it could be observed that nearly three fourth of the respondents (74.00 %) possessed medium level of awareness followed by 13.90 per cent of respondents with low level of awareness and 12.10 per cent of respondents with high level of awareness. Being a short duration vocational course, the certificate courses offered at DODL, 5960 TNAU had imparted knowledge about all basic technologies to launch and manage Table 2. Correlation between the Independent variables and Awareness of Respondents Variable No. Variables ‘r’ value Landscaping Mushroom Vermicomposting X1 Age 0.253NS 0.763** 0.443** X2 Gender -0.224NS 0.206NS -0.038NS X3 Educational status 0.440** -0.004NS 0.844** X4 Marital status -3.07NS 0.370* -0.194NS X5 Occupational status -0.013NS 0.086NS -0.267NS X6 Annual income 0.000NS -0.058NS 0.804** X7 Job experience 0.228NS 0.220NS 0.171NS X8 Rural-Urban background 0.116NS -0.363* -0.638** X9 Geographic distance -0.121NS -0.883** -0.944** Table 1. Distribution of Respondents According to Their Level of Awareness (n=108) Sl. No. Category Gardening & Landscaping (n = 34) Mushroom Production (n = 38) Solid Waste Management & Vermicomposting (n = 36) Total (n = 108) No % No % No % No % 1. Low 2 5.90 4 10.50 9 25.00 15 13.90 2. Medium 24 70.60 29 79.30 27 75.00 80 74.00 3. High 8 23.50 5 13.20 0 0.00 13 12.10 Total 34 100.00 38 100.00 36 100.00 108 100.00 The relationship between the independent variables and awareness is given in Table 2. an enterprise. This might be the reason for their increased level of awareness. 5961 Variable No. Variables ‘r’ value Landscaping Mushroom Vermicomposting X10 Medium of instruction 0.376* -0.252NS -0.928** X11 Computer knowledge 0.269NS -0.029NS 0.673** X12 Information seeking behavior 0.937** 0.719** 0.828** X13 Information sharing behavior 0.810** 0.799** 0.945** X14 Job aspiration 0.353* 0.827** 0.664** X15 Determinant factors -0.891** 0.916** -0.850** X16 Economic motivation 0.929** 0.730** 0.969** X17 Attitude towards entrepreneurship 0.923** 0.862** 0.910** X18 Evaluation of syllabus 0.872** 0.963** 0.860** X19 Evaluation of course outline 0.845** 0.960** 0.841** X20 Evaluation of course content 0.892** 0.931** 0.899** X21 Evaluation of course material 0.813** 0.793** 0.838** X22 Evaluation of physical facilities 0.0780** 0.860** 0.919** X23 Evaluation of modes of teaching 0.929** 0.895** 0.792** X24 Evaluation of teaching aids 0.946** 0.860** 0.853** X25 Evaluation of teaching methods 0.935** 0.848** 0.773** 5962 Variable No. Variables ‘r’ value Landscaping Mushroom Vermicomposting X26 Evaluation of teacher-taught interaction 0.768** 0.883** 0.933** X27 Evaluation of administration 0.821** 00.955** 0.878** *- significant at 5 % level ** - Significant at 1 % level NS – Not Significant LANDSCAPING From Table 2, it could be inferred that out of 27 variables, 15 variables viz, educational status (X3), information seeking behavior (X12), information sharing behavior (X13), economic motivation (X16), attitude towards entrepreneurship (X17), evaluation of syllabus (X18), course outline (X19), course content (X20), course material (X21), physical facilities (X22), modes of teaching (X23), teaching aids (X24), teaching methods (X25), teacher-taught interaction (X26) and administration (X27) had a positive significant relationship at one percent level. Determinant factor (X15) had negative significant relationship at 1% level of significance with the awareness level of distance learners of gardening and landscaping course of DODL, TNAU. Job aspiration (X14) and Medium of instruction (X10) had a positive and significant relationship with awareness at 5% level of significance. Majority of the respondents (39.50 %) belonged to middle age group and hence age had a positive influence towards awareness. Majority (64.70 %) had medium level of information seeking behavior and 70.60 % of the respondents’ possessed good information sharing behavior. As the respondents possessed these characteristics they would share information with their known circle of people and hence information seeking and sharing behavior had positive relationship with the awareness. More than half of the respondents (62.00 %) and majority of the respondents (82.00%) possess medium economic motivation and medium attitude towards entrepreneurship. These factors reveal the respondents’ interest towards livelihood upliftment and determination to achieve their career goals. Therefore, it had a positive influence on awareness. As far as course effectiveness is concerned majority of the respondents felt satisfied with every aspect of the course like syllabus, course outline, course content, course material, PCP and administration. As the effectiveness increases the commitment, interest and 5963 involvement of the respondents towards the course, institution and subject. In turn the level of awareness also rises. Hence, course effectiveness had a positive link with awareness. Marital status explained that, 58.00 per cent of respondents were married and had children. The respondents with this marital status have higher desire to develop their family and also to achieve higher goals. Hence, it had a positive link with awareness. As the geographic distance increases the frequency of respondents to attend the Personal Contact Classes (PCP) decreases, which, ultimately leads to less awareness about concepts related to the subject. Hence, geographic distance was linked negatively to awareness. Similarly 47.40 per cent of respondents were with rural background. Rural areas are lagging a little from urban areas in terms of social contact and ICT developments hence it might have affected the awareness level. Mushroom Production From Table 2, it could be inferred that out of 27 variables, 17 variables viz, age (X1), information seeking behavior (X12), information sharing behavior (X13), job aspiration (X14), determinant factors (X15), economic motivation (X16), attitude towards entrepreneurship (X17), evaluation of syllabus (X18), course outline (X19), course content (X20), course material (X21), physical facilities (X22), modes of teaching (X23), teaching aids (X24), teaching methods (X25), teacher-taught interaction (X26) and administration (X27) show positive significant relationship at one percent level. Marital status (X4) had a positive influence at 5 % level of significance. Geographic distance had negative significant relationship at 1% level of significance and rural-urban background had negative influence at 5% significance level on the awareness level of the respondents enrolled with the mushroom production course offered by DODL, TNAU. Majority of the respondents belonged to the educational status of undergraduate level of education, had medium level of information seeking behavior and possessed medium level of economic motivation and attitude toward entrepreneurship respectively. These factors might have contributed to their determination to achieve their career goal, hence it had a positive influence with awareness. As far as course effectiveness is concerned, majority of the respondents felt satisfied with every aspect of the course like syllabus, course outline, course content, course material, PCP and administration. As the effectiveness increases, it creates a positive attitude among the respondents towards the institute, facilitators and subject hence it ultimately lead to increase in awareness among the respondents. 5964 Majority of the respondents had their previous education through mother tongue (i.e. Tamil) as the medium of instruction, as the certificate courses were also offered in their mother tongue at DODL, TNAU, the level of understanding was high and easy hence medium of instruction had positive relationship with the awareness. Solid Waste Management and Vermicomposting From Table 2, it could be inferred that out of 27 variables, 19 variables viz, age (X1), educational status (X3), annual income (X6), computer knowledge (X11), information seeking behavior (X12), information sharing behavior (X13), job aspiration (X14), economic motivation (X16), attitude towards entrepreneurship (X17), evaluation of syllabus (X18), course outline (X19), course content (X20), course material (X21), physical facilities (X22), modes of teaching (X23), teaching aids (X24), teaching methods (X25), teacher-taught interaction (X26) and administration (X27) had positive significant relationship at one percent level with the awareness level of the beneficiaries of solid waste management and vermicomposting course offered at DODL, TNAU. Rural-urban background (X8), geographic distance (X9), medium of instruction (X10) and determinant factors (X15) had negatively significant relationship at 1% level of significance. Majority of the respondents (52.80 %) belonged to middle age group. This age group people have a strong commitment towards family and strong desire to achieve their goals to uplift its socio- economic condition. They were more attentive to gather information; hence age had a positive influence towards awareness. As regards, the effectiveness of the course effectiveness, majority of the respondents felt satisfied with every aspects of the course like syllabus, course outline, course content, course material, PCP and administration. Hence, course effectiveness had a positive link with awareness. CONCLUSION From this study, it is learnt that most of the respondents belonged to urban population and hence efforts should be taken to create awareness about the certificate courses among rural population. Refinement of course material with more pictures and illustrations considering the heterogeneous nature of the group is highly needed. REFERENCES Archana, K. P. (2014). 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