There are few opportunities for learners and tutors to meet during the distance teaching process, so it is natural that learners may feel loneliness of a lack of emotional contact. Tutors at distant education colleges and universities are responsible for providing students with a greater degree of care, learner support and other services. Student activities are an important part of non-academic support services, offering distant learners emotional support, and a space to communicate and interact.

I. The current state of student activities at RTVUs

Student activities have not received adequate support since the inception of open  education at Radio and TV Universities (RTVUs). The reasons for this are threefold. Firstly, the organization and leadership of student activities around China is spread across different departments, including student work departments, educational administrations, and youth league committees. Secondly, the content and form of student activities have not been standardized, so they cannot reach their full potential. Thirdly, the activities lack financial support.

Against this background, the author has completed a statistical analysis of the issues at hand based on 42 work experience summaries submitted by RTVUs at the 2012 RTVU Student Work Conference and Open and Distance Education Forum, as well as the data collected through field research in Fujian, Zhejiang, Gansu, and Heilongjiang, among others.

1. The current state of student activities

1.1. Geographical distribution

The writer divided the 44 provincial RTVUs into three sections: eastern cities, central cities and western cities. According to the statistics, the geographical division of student activities is unbalanced. Provincial RTVUs in western and eastern cities hold more student activities compared to ones in central cities. The specific distribution is shown in Table 1 below: 

Table 1  The geographical distribution of student activities

The student activities currently being held by provincial RTVUs can be divided into eight categories: specialized knowledge and competition activities, essay and lecture activities, recreational and sports activities, social practice activities, charitable activities, and online activities.

At present, recreational and sports activities are the most common student activities held at provincial RTVUs, providing learners with a stage to show themselves and enriching their spare-time life. Charitable activities are gradually increasing at provincial RTVUs, allowing the students to improve their social responsibility, and acting as a positive endorsement for the RTVUs themselves. However, there is a lack of specialized knowledge and competition activities, which play an important role in encouraging distance students. In addition, there is a lack of online activities suggesting that student activities are not taking full advantage of information technology.

2. Questionnaire survey results

2.1 Student information

According to the questionnaire survey results, students in open education tend to be younger, with students between 20 and 40 years old accounting for 63.3% of the total amount, with fewer people under 20 years old and or over 40 years old. 

Table 2  Age distribution of students in open education

Of the students surveyed, most are currently-employed mature students with a stable income. Of these, 55% work in enterprises and 18.7% work in public institutions, with relatively fewer working in government offices. The specific distribution is shown in Table 3 below.

Table 3  Employment situation of students in open education

2.2  Students’ attitude

In terms of the attitude of students in open education and their tutors towards activities, the results show that students have high requirements for student activities and an active attitude. According to the “extracurricular activities” results in the questionnaire, the average value of students’ attitude towards activities is 1.89, and 1.83 for tutors, ranking between “very necessary” and “necessary”. This shows that the students and tutors have a positive attitude towards activities, but haven’t fully recognized the importance of student activities during the learning process. The “online activities” results show that the average value of students’ attitude towards activities is 1.99, and 1.67 for tutors, also ranking between “very necessary” and “necessary”, but with students being more active than tutors.

According to the survey, students believe that the student activities help to improve personal quality and work skills. 57.6% of students believe that extracurricular activities can improve interpersonal skills and practical ability. 18.4% of students believe that they can, to some extent, inspire their work. In addition, some students find that participating in the activities increases self-confidence and helps them to discover their potential. The specific results are shown in Table 4 below.

Table 4  Gains from students participating in activities

Since most students in open education are currently-employed mature learners, a lack of time is the most significant factor preventing them from participating in the activities, which is supported by 47.5% of students. Secondly, advertisement of student activities is limited, meaning students cannot access timely and accurate information. This is the second most influential factor, accounting for 27.9%. Factors such as no professional teachers instructing activities and lack of creativity have also decreased the enthusiasm of students participating in the activities.

However, survey data from tutors shows that the most difficult factor in organizing student activities is that the activities do not attract active participation, which accounts for 29.7%. The second most influential factor is that the demands of students are hard to define, which accounts for 22.6%. Furthermore, the expenditure of an activity cannot be guaranteed, which accounts for 21.6%. Organizational difficulties and low participation rate are two of the most obvious features of student activities in open education.

II. Considerations and advice

1. Establish special organizations for student work

It is necessary to initiate solid top-level design and then gradually establish the special organizations, staffing and basic system of student work needed to complete the task of organizing student activities. It is also necessary to provide an organizational guarantee, a staff guarantee and a system guarantee for the organization and implementation of student activities. Furthermore, the school should also promote the position of student work within the open education process, and view student activities as an important constituent of student work. This will help students to develop a sense of belonging to the school, and enhance the school’s social influence in expanding enrollment.

2.  Focus on the construction and development of student organizations

It is necessary to increase the autonomy of student activities and focus on giving play to the power of student organizations. Students are the core of student activities, so the activities should be organized and carried out by the students themselves. However, as part of the actual operating process of open education, it is the staff in departments of student work and other departments that mostly organize and carry out student activities, and students may only participate according to the rules and requirements. Therefore, as part of the future construction of open universities, we should pay attention to the construction and development of student organizations to help and guide the students to actively organize and establish student organizations, such as student unions, student societies and so on, and focus on encouraging students to carry out individual student activities.

3.  Actively organize online student activities

It is necessary to take full advantage of the Internet in organizing student activities. The open university concept emphasizes the deep integration of modern technology and education. Since most of students in open education are currently-employed, mature students, the opportunities for students and teachers to meet each other are few and far between. Under these circumstances, we should use the advantages of the Internet network to organize online activities for students, establish a virtual communication platform for students, and build a new brand of student activities with the features of distance learning.

4. Enrich the content and format of activities

Activities can only attract more students when they satisfy students’ needs. Students in open education already have rich life experience, so it is necessary to find out more about their specific needs and characteristics. At the same time, the school should, on the basis of the existing activities, keep exploring new types of activities, and keeps students informed through active and effective advertising.

5. Provide stable funding

Providing funding for special activities for students is the main way to guarantee the successful implementation of the activities. Without due fund support, the quality of activities cannot be guaranteed, which affects the autonomy of the students organizing the activities and the enthusiasm of the students. Therefore, in future, schools should provide stable funding for student activities so as to encourage the students to discover their potential through distance learning, improve their personal quality, and establish a positive image of lifelong learning.

 By Di Xiaoxuan, the OUC