Asian Journal of Distance Education

[Link]
© 2013 The Asian Society of Open and Distance Education
ISSN 1347-9008 Asian J D E 2013 vol 11, no 1, pp 47 - 51

Students’ Perceptions on the Academic Management at the

Polytechnic University of the Philippines Open University
System
Carmencita L. CASTOLO & Diana Lee Tracy K. CHAN
Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Open University System, Philippines
dchan2662@[Link]

ABSTRACT :

The primary objective of Open University System is to bring the learning

environment at the doorstep of the learner to make them become as independent as
possible. This is a mission-oriented system that performs and value learner’s diversity
in terms of access, flexibility, mobility, context and need in its entire endeavor. Thus,
understanding the learners profile established the nature and complexities of identifying
and determining specific needs which build the level of importance of the dimensions
of academic management in the open and distance education. Undeniably, the learning
environment and learning process of the Open University System must bridge the gap
between the learners’ expectation and perception.

1. INTRODUCTION : To this note, Academic Management

Openness’ of education is measured in should provide answers to this gap because
terms of its flexibility or lack of restriction it is the key areas of the sub-system of
in terms of the number of seats, attendance, academic design and development of
class timing, subject combinations, etc. It is academic programs apart from providing
an innovation in the field of education, for them the necessary orientation and training
it aims to seek and make use of the latest on distant education system. The access and
developments in the field of education, for equity of the academic management,
it aims to seek and make use of the latest particularly the academic advising and
developments in the field communication information literacy, is critical in this end.
technology to achieve this end. Student that Consequently, much emphasis has been
avails this kind of delivery mode come from placed on developing packages which
diverse level in terms of socio- economic enables learners to work on their own, with
status along with so many pressures in the a minimum contract with the institution.
workplace, and in their personal lives. However, not all learners can adapt readily
The broad framework of the management in the anagogical systembecause of the lack
system of autonomous distance education of experiences (Rankin and Brindley 2006).
institution is comparative to conventional The definition of academic advising and
universities, though it may be different in counseling are problematic because these
the learning environment of the learners. two functions are seen differently by
Two Important influences on the learners various institutions. Formal and informal,
are the quality and the frequency of student- the amount of advising learners receive has
faculty contacts, which is found very few in been found to be positively related to
the distance education. students’ academic performance.

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It reinforces intellectual curiosity, The personal qualities of service

interpersonal skills, and development of providers often lead to diverse variable
educational and career goals of adult levels of services. Academic advising tasks
learners. To this note, student support function takes off to a higher level of
service in the open university system builds analysis and abstraction. The advent of
mutual trust, shared responsibility and technology has revolutionized advising,
realized learner’s career and life goals. teaching and learning (Crookston, 2010). It
“…The role of student support service shifts requires a more visible and centralized
as student populations and administrative location to use in place of, or in addition to
conditions in universities change over time. their regular faculty advising system. He
Instilling students with a sense of values emphasize the rather depersonalize contact.
and commitment to their future plans and Truly, this claims, has been found to
responsibility for their decisions is the maximize the potential of educational
cornerstone of the support service in management, in the distance learning mode,
distance education.” (NACADA, 2008). where students have fewer contact sessions
It is indeed, an important indicator that with their facilitators. Technology as it is
helps assess the situation and the now used encourages a more meaningful
benchmarks to identify the measurability of and frequent contact between learner and
changes and developments. Therefore, it the system if it keeps the end in mind. All
calls for drawing greater attention to policy are constituted the series of successful and
makers to be more learner-oriented and unsuccessful experiences of the learner
proactive in nature. Quality of the student studying in the university. Aimed at solving
support service is judged according to these problems, it is necessary to consider
perceived satisfaction. According to academic advising as the “front line” of the
Gronroos (2005, p.54), perceived quality is university in dealing with the factors that
determined “by the gap between expected intervene within the process should be
quality and experienced quality”, that is, it established. It is a critical position in the
is the difference between client perceptions success or failure of the student’s education
and expectations. At this point, academic and growth. It is a contractual relationship
advising took on new attention and expand that exists between the student and the
responsibilities - in their academic planning institution. Thus, the open and distance
learners demand not less, but more education providers should be conscious of
personalized. This brought about a major the obligations which might be created by
examination of how advising was delivered unequivocal statements regarding
in the Open University system. The responsibilities of the academic advisers
institutions must work to obtain a standard and staff who perform the functions in the
of quality that exceeds client and/or student operation of the educational process.
expectations and needs. According to Relevant and desirable outcome include:
Lovelock (2001), “…Education service is intellectual growth, effective
classified as a service with intangible communication, realistic self- appraisal,
actions, directed towards the minds of enhanced self-esteemed, clarified values,
people, with continuous delivery, conducted career choices, leadership development,
through a partnership between the service healthy behaviors’, meaningful
organization and its client, and although it interpersonal relations, independence,
provides high personal contact, there is low collaboration, social responsibility,
customization.” Parasuraman et al (1988) satisfying and productive lifestyles,
further agreed that services are appreciation of diversity, spiritual
performances or experiences and therefore awareness. Open University must provide
intangible. Aiming to improve service evidence of its impact on the achievement
quality management, parameters must be of student learning and development
present to make every effort to meet the outcomes.
needs of the learners.

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At present, the rise in student mobility Perceptions measures those aspects of the
increase emphasis on lifelong learning. In service as actually delivered or experienced.
the advent of the internet and e-learning Simple formula to illustrate this:
shows a greater demand where the size of Satisfaction (S), as the gap between
the open and distance education institution expectations and perceptions. So, S=E-P.
increased over the years. The three common mismatches are: (a)
student expectations; (b) actual service
METHODOLOGY given vs. information about the service; (c)
The paradigm using the SERVQUAL expected service vs. perceived service. The
methodology in the context of educational disconfirming paradigm indicates the size
system attempts to illustrate the effort to and direction of a person’s initial
bridge the five Gaps of the Service Quality expectations in relation to the experience
Model by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and received (Churchill and Surprenant 1982;
Berry. It is a methodology that give focus cited by Parasuraman et al, 1985).
on the comparison between several orders Therefore, the size of the gap between prior
of service delivery implemented as follows: expectation and the actual performance
how the management perceived the needs of received provides directions as follows:
the between several orders of service positive, negative and zero
delivery are implemented as follows: how disconfirmations. When there is a resulting
the management perceived the needs of the satisfaction occurs a positive confirmation;
students; how translation and specification and when a service is below the expectation
of management policies and procedures are a negative, disconfirmation occurs resulting
installed in the service delivery operation in dissatisfaction. By building on the theory,
in the academic management; the external Gronroos (1982) states that costumers’
communication that used to facilitate compare the service they expected with the
student support service – abide by the perception or service they received when
specific policies, procedures, and values of evaluating the service quality. While,
the institution; the manner of the delivery of Parasuraman et al (1985) state that the
service, disseminated to answer student perceived service quality is the result of a
problem situation, and the last, is the comparison between what consumers
expectation of the student of the service consider by the service provider. In the
based on their needs and past experiences. methodology, perception is defined as
costumers’ beliefs concerning the service
Several groups of learner from the received and the expectation as desires or
different programs in the chosen Open wants perceived. The SERQUAL authors
University System provider were given the have also developed a measurement, and
questionnaires to reduce the risk of bias and management model to accompany the
have an equal chance of selection. The conceptual model. The measurement model
study adapted the SERVQUAL uses a 44-item questionnaire that measures
methodology which uses five broad-based costumer’s expectation and perception of
dimensions as judgment criteria: 1) the rate variables. This enables to compute
tangibility, 2) reliability, 3) responsibility, the relative importance of any gaps between
4) security, and, 5) empathy. The model expectation and perception. Management
seeks to help stakeholders to understand the then can focus on strategies and tactics to
needs of the learners and the continuing close the gaps.
improvements needed to measure the
quality of service delivery in DE. The Gap CONCLUSION
analysis establishes the following: Administering distance education is
expectations measures what is anticipated in very similar in administering traditional
an ideal service (on a 5-point scale). academic programs. These claimed was
supported by the National Academic
Advising Association (NACADA),

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an association of professional advisors, ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education,

councilors, administrators and students in Washington, D.C; George Washington
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Dr. Carmencita L. CASTOLO is the Director of the Open University of the Polytechnic University of the
Philippines (PUP OU). She is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Singapore and the Asian Society of
Distance Education. Currently, Dr. Castolo is Editorial Board member of Asian Journal of Distance
Education, International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, International Journal for
the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (IJSoTL), Journal of Educational Technology, Turkish On
Line Journal of Distance Education, Journal of School Educational Technology, Online International
Journal on New Trends in Education and Their Implications, International Women Online Journal of
Distance Education, Asian Journal of Education and e-Learning. Dr. Castolo is a Professor in PUP
Graduate School and a Course Specialist in PUP Open University.

Diana Lee Tracy K. CHAN is a Professor in New Era University School of Graduate Studies, and a
Course Specialist in Polytechnic University of the Philippines Open University System (OUS). A full
time faculty teaching business courses such as operations, human resources, marketing, entrepreneurship
and education. She is Coordinator for the Community Relations and Extension in charge with the
organization and implementation of the Alternative Learning System, an alternative education for the out
of school youth and adults in Polytechnic University of the Philippines Quezon City Branch. She has
scoped and overseeing various training programs for the youth leaders. She is a member of Research
Council in the same university.

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