Instructional Effectiveness of Online Courses in Agriculture

The present study was carried out to know the instructional effectiveness of online courses in agriculture of IGNOU in 2014. The study was conducted in School of Agriculture in Indira Gandhi National Open University New Delhi purposively selected. Two courses namely Post graduate diploma in food safety and quality management and post-graduate certificate course in agriculture policy were selected for the study. Total 517 learners registered both in online courses were selected using census method. Analytical research design was used to meet the objectives of the study. The data were collected with the help of questionnaire mailed through post and electronic mail. The data were analyzed using appropriate statistical tool. Out of seven aspects of instructional effectiveness selected for the study majority of the learners found the online curriculum moderately relevant, instructional design fairly effective, high level of teacher quality. Majority of the learners were highly active in online courses and found moderately authentic assessment of online courses. Maximum number of learners found management and support systems moderately appropriate. Majority of the learners found moderately developed technical infrastructure in online courses. Majority of learners also reported that the overall instruction effectiveness of online courses as fairly effective. All variables were positively correlated with instructional effectiveness.