Write a short essay of 250-300 words on ONE of the following topics.

Suggest ways to improve the Intensive Course conducted by the School of

Distance Education (PPPJJ), USM.

The School of Distance Education (SDE) in Universiti Sains Malaysia was established in
197...... . USM SDE is the pioneer faculty in Malaysia which offers four undergraduate
programmes through distance education which are Sciences, Social Sciences, Arts and
Management. Objective of SDE is to provide opportunities for working adults to obtain a
tertiary education through its innovative educational approach such as live videoconferencing, the electronic portal and streaming media. Moreover, working adults are given
an opportunity to undertake undergraduate courses while remaining in full-time employment.
Even though the main medium conducting the course is printed material, it is also
supplemented by face-to-face meetings with the lecturers and students during the three-weeks
intensive course. The intensive course is compulsory be attended by all the students
throughout Malaysia. During that period, the students will be experiencing university life as a
full time student whereby they will be staying in the university hostel, direct communication
with lecturer, and seating at the examination hall. Finally, with all this benefit, there are also
comes infirmity.
The duration of SDE intensive course is always been a nuisance for many of the working
adults especially for those who are working in corporate sector. With the limited days of
corporate personal leave it is such a constraint for them to plan their personal holiday.
Besides that, students spend more pocket money to cover for their stint at campus inclusive of
travel and daily expenses such as foods, drinks/meals and printing purposes. The students are
also faced limited time constrain because they are attending the classes and preparing for
their midterm exam at the same time. Additionally, students are required to response to
various online quiz sessions to grab extra marks at the same period. It caused the internet line
traffic outnumbered the connection availability and slowdown the performance. Many of the
students failed to get access and able to get their notes or articles for the exam preparation.
Some students who are living at the mainland find difficulty of travelling in the campus.
Many of students used their own transport to travel to and within the campus to able reach the
destination on time to attend classes. Almost more than 2000 students and their own

transports caused heavy traffic flows and congestion within the campus. USM security
officials have to work more to control the situation. With heavy schedule in placed, travel and
opportunity to meet up and discuss with lecturers on certain topics for clarification are limited
and troublesome as lecturers have limited available time to meet their student as well. In
some cases, student who failed to meet up with such expectations and challenges tend to get
tired and lost their procrastination on exam preparations and finally they find an easy way to
drops some of the papers.
Therefore, some measures have to be taken to ensure improvement for the intensive courses
such as reduction of the program period to 10 days per semester which help the students to
plan their work life balance for work, study and family. The students will able to reduce their
budget for shorter period of program in the campus. Lectures can review their syllabus by
focus more on the direct interaction on and off the class during the period with the students
and reschedule the online quizzes at more appropriate timeframe to release the time for
students to focus at incentive and avoid online congestion on it. Lecturers need to provide
printed notes for student and avoid student to busy with getting those notes printed by
themselves as they have to seek printers from computer lab or off-campus shops. In another
hand they also can help the students by providing the printed important topics that will be
covered upon intensive courses and could be useful for the exams rather than the students
needs to find additional note books via internet / printing or buying from the nearby
bookshops. Apart from that, USM management also play the important role in ensuring the
safety and smooth traffic flow surrounding the campus during the three weeks incentive
courses. There should be more bus operating in order to reduce the traffic in the campus.
Traffic officers should be more alert and provide guidance to the students also. Example from
last intensive course held in 2012, there was a heavy traffic flow during the time for check in
the hostels as most of the students are not used to the campus roads.
In conclusion, it is not one day changes can be done to satisfy all the students. Cooperation
and commitment from each of the students along with the management is needed in order to
make the incentive course more meaningful and successful for both sides.