Abstract:

 

 

Tutor marked assignment (TMA) holds an important position in the continuous evaluation system of open and distance education. However, questions about quality of continuous evaluation system have aroused a great deal of controversy in most distance education universities. This article presents the findings of a study conducted for identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the operational strategy of the TMA adapted as the only mechanism of continuous evaluation system for the Bachelor of Education programme (6 Ed) of Bangladesh Open University (BOU). The findings reveal that the TMA delivety is plagued with some crucial deficiencies in term of holding time, completion time, evaluation procedure, marking system, feedback system, declaration of assignment result, monitoring of TMA evaluation, and others. A set of recommendations are made by the author for eliminating the deficiencies.