THE DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHER COMPETENCIES FOR DESIGNING AND DELIVERY OF ONLINE COURSES AT KTU DISTANCE EDUCATION CENTRE

Abstract

Teachers are encouraged by their students and colleagues, as well as by their institutions that provide them with the support and resources, to face the challenges of information and communication technologies (ICT) and to use them in distance learning (DL). However, a lot of problems still remain as DL designers, deliverers and supporters understand that it is not enough to manage technology and the tools, but that it is also necessary to apply them in education. Thus it is very important not only to train university and school teachers to manage ICT, but also to use them in educational context. Thus the list of teacher competencies continues increasing, and it includes teacher‘s responsibility for course design delivery and learning assessment. DL centres, especially at Universities, are responsible for teacher training for using ICT and delivering DL, as well as applying new DL methods. KTU Distance Education Centre trains the teachers on ICT use for a number of years. Recently the Centre started the research on the efficiency of using ICT in DL, and it helps teachers to gain competencies in practical training by encouraging them to become autonomous DL designers and deliverers.