COMPARISON OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL OF M.ED PROGRAM OFFERED THROUGH DISTANCE EDUCATION BY ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY AND SARHAD UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to compare to instructional material of M.Ed program offered through distance education by AIOU and SUIT. The study consisted of 489 students of AIOU and 234 students of SUIT were enrolled in M.Ed program during the autumn 2011 semester to Spring 2012 semester were selected randomly as the sample of the study. Survey methodology was employed to collect data through a self- administered questionnaire on Five-point rating scale. After the development of research tool, pilot study was conducted on 20 students from each of the two universities. In the light of pilot testing some statements were modified, added and deleted. The final version of questionnaire was developed and administered. Reliability of the questionnaires was also determined through SPSS software and calculated values of Cronbach Alpha Co-efficient was 0.731.In this study the measure of actual usage of the print-based instructional material by students of M.Ed program was subjective and based on the opinion of the respondents through five-point Likert scale questionnaire. On the base of findings of the study it is concluded that students of M.Ed program are in favour of the importance of instructional material especially in the area of their learning skills. Therefore it is recommended that the writing style of instructional material may be improved and organized in logical sequence so that every distance learner can easily understand and can continue his/her study at his own pace, time without the support of tutor.