ABOUT LEARNING SUPPORT MATERIAL (LSM)

Learning support materials are an integral part of curriculum development and a means of promoting both good teaching and learning. Although learning support material cannot replace an educator, successful learning depend to a great extent on the educator's ability to identify the relevant resources, then design, adapt or use them to produce effective learning support materials.
Learning support material are a means whereby resources are accessed for the purpose of learning. In Outcomes Based Education and Training (OBET), learning support material facilitates the process and encompasses more than just text-books. It must be noted that development of learning support material is not the exclusive preserve of publishing houses or educators. There is a variety of sources of design and production. For example:

• Commercial publishers
• Formal support material committees, structured on provincial or regional basis
• Informal support material committees, such as teacher centre working groups, voluntary teacher groupings, subject interest groups, and NGO- groupings
• Knowledgeable individuals in the community
• Support material committees within schools
• The teacher in the classroom
• The learners, e.g. projects, notes and reviews, and parents.

Learning support material can be found in, or designed from various resources.