APPLY NOWPolicies And Procedures
ICDE strives to offer the highest quality educational experience to all its students, whether in the traditional mode of classroom instruction or in alternative teaching methodologies, such as the e-teaching and learning in a conducive environment and at the convenience of the student for which we term “Learning at your place at your pace”. To reach more students, ICDE is making more of its course offerings available in the distance education format.
The Ghana Communication Technology University seeks to serve students who for one way or the other cannot travel to reside in rented accommodation due to financial burden to be able to acquire University education to earn sustainable and decent employment and incomes.
Distance education may be defined as a formal educational process in which most of the instruction (interaction between students and instructors and among students) in a course occurs when students and instructors are not in the same place. Instruction may be synchronous or asynchronous.
A distance education course may employ a facilitator, audio, video, and other computer technologies as its medium of instruction to meet the needs of all kinds of students both in the cities, towns and villages across the country and the international space. ICDE will employ all these technologies in its course delivery.
This manual explains the policies and procedures which will be used in our distance education programs. These policies and procedures are congruent with those of the Ghana Communication Technology University and accredited by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission.
Purpose
The purpose of offering courses via distance education at Ghana Communication Technology (GCTU) is to provide educational opportunities to as many people as possible. Utilization of the various formats for distance education (e.g., facilitator driven face-to-face tele-courses and internet-based courses) will allow the University to be all-inclusive in its outreach to current and potential students.
Mission
The mission of GCTU ICDE Program is to expand access to the high quality education courses and programs offered by the institution to students who cannot or for various reasons choose not to enroll for GCTU on-campus offerings.
Program Name
The name of the distance education program at GCTU will be Distance Education and E-learning.
Administration
Distance education and e-learning at GCTU will be administered by the Institute of continuing and distance education (ICDE). The ICDE Program is staffed by a director and an Administrator. Administrative services are provided by the ICDE administrative staff. Administrative assistants work in conjunction with Information Technology Services to staff the Help Desk dedicated to distance education.
The responsibilities of ICDE include maintaining and updating the course management system(s) used by the University, maintaining a technical Help Desk, offering faculty sessions on developing and teaching online courses and certifying faculty for online course delivery through course modules.
The University shall assure and ensure that the institute’s administrative policies and procedures allow for an effective and efficient distance education support infrastructure with sufficient resource allocation to maintain the quality of offerings and services.
The Institute shall ensure that the student who registers in a distance education program is the same student who participates in and completes the course or program and receives the credit by verifying the identity of a student to participates in class or coursework by using, at the option of the institute, methods such as (1) a secure login and pass code, (2) proctored examinations, and, (3) new or other technologies and practices that are effective in verifying student identification including monitoring by learning center coordinators.
The institute shall demonstrate that it has a written procedure for protecting the privacy of students enrolled in distance education programs. The institute shall maintain a central repository for distance education program information (the ICDE Registry) and a support structure for facilitating the development and refinement of distance education programs, policies, procedures, and services learning center wide. Since the mission of ICDE is to provide quality and affordable educational services to learners who use this service, the Institute shall ensure that the academic quality of distance education programs is a high priority.
Ghana Communication Technology has the administrative infrastructure (guidelines and policies for instruction), technology infrastructure (internet access, computing/networking standards, help desk services), faculty support (including access to and training in a variety of instructional media, virtual library and other required resources), and student support services (advising, placement testing, library support, technical support) University Relations (including international relations) necessary to meet the needs of distance education students both in and outside the country.
In accordance with the GCTU student assessment policy, all distance education courses and programs will be assessed and evaluated on a regular basis. Online courses will carry the same weight as traditionally taught courses when a faculty member’s workload is tabulated.
Periodic Review of Policies and Procedures
The policies and procedures stated in this manual will be reviewed and updated on a regular basis upon recommendation from the Institute’s Board subject to approval from the Academic Board while course modules shall be reviewed at least every five years.