Ensuring Quality in the Communication between Tutors-Counselors and Learners in Open and Distance Education. The Case of the Hellenic Open University

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate the factors that contribute to the quality of the communication process between tutors-counsellors and students in the departments of an Open University where group advisory meetings are organised through video conferencing. Communication in open distance education is multidimensional and since the most important form of communication is the interpersonal relationships, it is interesting to explore how the quality of communication is ensured when face-to-face meetings are replaced by teleconferencing in view of the current pandemic crisis. The research process that was followed is identified as descriptive-diagnostic, adopting a mixed research approach, through the collection, analysis and synthesis of quantitative and qualitative methods. Findings showed that adult students consider that the quality in communication requires the tutor to encourage participation, involvement in the process of learning and developing critical thinking. However, the respondents believe that through video conference there is not a high frequency of interaction. Therefore, it is important to investigate the effectiveness of other factors in the learning process in addition to the technological ones.