Learner Support Quality Assessment Survey

October 2014

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South African Institute for Distance Education

P O Box 31822

Braamfontein 2017

South Africa

Tel: +27 11 403 2813 Fax: +27 11 403 2814

http://www.saide.org.za

© South African Institute for Distance Education, 2011

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Acknowledgements Saide would like to acknowledge the invaluable contribution of all stakeholders who

participated in the study. In particular, I wish to thank Ms Francine Keendjele, Deputy

Director- Management and Support Services, for coordinating the study through staff in her

Department and also for participating in the interviews.

I also need to express my appreciation to the Director of NAMCOL, Mr Heroldt Murangi,

who facilitated our work and without whom this study would not have been possible.

The invaluable contribution of all the four regional managers at NAMCOL is greatly

appreciated. I particularly thank the regional managers for facilitating the data collection

process by field workers in the regions and for participating in interviews. Without the

support of these key people, the process of data collection in the regions would not have

gone as smoothly as it did. These men and women deserve mentioning by name:

Ms Dina Haufiku – North Eastern Region

Mr Paavo Pea – Northern Region

Mr Martin Straus – Central Region

Mr Clemence Hinanifa – Southern Region

I would also like to single out the following NAMCOL staff who, in their various ways

contributed immensely towards the success of the study:

Ms Ndeshimona Afunde – for participating in interviews in her capacity as Learner

Support Manager

Mr Adam Muheua- Manager, Research, Monitoring and Quality Assurance - for

making all the logistical arrangements for scheduling research activities and making

appointments for interviews

Ms Tutaleni Nampila – Research Officer - for supporting with making interview

appointments and transport logistics

Ms Eveline Kambonde – Area Coordinator for Southern Region- for participating in

interviews

Ms Selma Amakutuwa – Area Coordinator for Northern Region - for participating in

interviews

Mr A. C. Block -- Area Coordinator for Central Region – for participating in

interviews

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Ms Hanna Garises and Ms Imogene Hilukiluah – Distance Education Coordinators

for participating in interviews

Mr Ben Harupe (Administration Coordinator) and Mr Darius Ngaujake (Driver) - for

arranging transportation of the researcher to and from the airport on his visits to

Namibia.

Last but not least, I would like to thank Mr Samuel Mayinoti who managed the fieldwork

process throughout the country, and the capturing of survey data to facilitate analysis. The

following team of fieldworkers is greatly thanked for working in such a professional manner

that yielded rich data from the field:

Dezimor Mavuru

Brenda Oaram

Elina Teofelus

Emilia Hofeni

Peter Joseph Mbangu

Deltin Manyando Simataa

Lincoln Williams

Undamuje Kaubako

Dr Ephraim Mhlanga, Lead Researcher

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Acronyms & Abbreviations

CBM Certificate in Business Management

CECD Certificate in Early Childhood Development

CED Certificate in Education for Development

CLGS Certificate in Local Government Studies

CWCY Certificate in Community Based Work with Children and Youth

CYP Commonwealth Diploma in Youth Development Work

DECPPE Diploma in Early Childhood and Pre-Primary Education

DED Diploma in Education for Development

ICDL International Computer Driving License

JSC Junior Secondary Certificate

LMS Learning Management System

NAMCOL Namibian College of Open Learning

NOLNet Namibian Open Learning Network Trust

NQA Namibia Qualification Authority

OER Open Education Resources

SMS Short Message Services

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Executive Summary This study sought to assess the nature, appropriateness and quality of learner support services

offered to NAMCOL learners pursuing the various programmes of the College. The main approach to

the study was quantitative, involving collecting of data from learners and staff through a

questionnaire. The study also had a qualitative dimension where interviews were conducted with

relevant staff at NAMCOL in order to gain deeper insights into some of the information and trends

emanating from the questionnaires. In order to allow generalisation of the findings, a representative

sample of learners had to be selected across regions and programmes throughout the country. Staff

members that were available at the tuition centres which mainly consisted of tutors and heads of

centres also responded to the staff questionnaire. Questionnaires were also administered to key

staff at NAMCOL regional offices. Thus, a sample of 675 learners and 65 staff was used in the survey.

Key NAMCOL staff like Regional Managers, Area Coordinators, the Deputy Director responsible for

Management and Support Services, the Manager for Learner Support and Distance Education

Coordinators were interviewed on the subject of learner support services at the College.

Findings The main findings of the study are that:

NAMCOL offers a wide range of learner support services that consist of both technology-

supported services (like toll free calls, Short Message Services (SMS), email, radio tutorials,

Learning Management System (LMS) and website) as well as direct human contact services (like

regular tutorial encounters, vacation workshops, mentor sessions and study groups). Specially

designed, high quality paper based materials for independent study are also provided to

learners. These materials are in the form of study guides/course books and have the “teacher”

built into them.

An important finding of this study is that some learner support services are better known by

learners than others. Support services learners are most aware of include NAMCOL study guides,

comments in tutor-marked assignments, face-to-face tutorials, telephonic communications with

tutors, orientation workshops and tutorial letters. Services learners indicated they are least

aware of include NOLNet centres, email facility, internet and the NAMCOL website. It was also

evident from the study that there is a very strong positive correlation between learner

awareness and usage of services.

The other finding of the study is that with the exception of a few, most of the services offered by

NAMCOL are easily accessed by learners. Of all the services included in the study, none of them

had an accessibility rate of less than 50%.1

Despite the fact that NAMCOL learner support services can easily be accessed by learners, not all

of them are used by these learners. There are support services that learners are aware of but

which they don’t necessarily use. Notable amongst the services rated lowest in terms of use are

1 Accessibility rate in this report was determined on the basis of the percentage of surveyed learners who

indicated that a service was average, good or excellent in terms of its accessibility to learners.

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NOLNet centres, web-based learning and the toll-free facility. It is also apparent from the study

that some learners indicated that they do not use some of the key support services like study

guides/course books, face-to-face tutorials and tutor comments in marked assignments. The

question to be raised is how such learners cope with their study work in order to pass

examinations.

Related to the above finding is that there are learner support services that learners didn’t

consider useful for their studies. These are the same services that learners don’t make much use

of, and they include NOLNet centres, the toll-free facility, emails, telephone communications

with Area Coordinators and the website.

Whilst learners indicated that tutors are easily accessible and that they benefit from interacting

with them, there is a general feeling amongst learners that tutorial services need to be

improved. Some of the specific shortcomings mentioned by learners are tutor absenteeism, lack

of punctuality for tutorial classes, using derogatory language when talking to learners and

general lack of commitment to NAMCOL by some of the tutors. Tutor-related problems were

also given as some of the reasons behind dropping out by learners.

Finally, an important finding of this study relates to learners who are physically challenged.

NAMCOL has made significant effort to be inclusive. Brail facilities, including opportunities for

writing examinations are available for blind learners. The College has also put in place structures

like rumps at some of its facilities in order to accommodate wheel chaired learners. Learners’

views however are that more services should be provided for physically challenged learners

registered with the College. Some of the suggestions given are that as much as possible,

NAMCOL should provide such learners with resources that enable the learners to study from

home. More importantly, learners suggested that the College should put in place a system that

enables regular medical check-up of these disadvantaged learners to ensure arrest of possible

deterioration of their conditions.

Recommendations This report makes the following recommendations in order to address some of the challenges

identified in the study:

Increasing learner and tutor awareness of the learner support services available at NAMCOL

Improving service usage in order to improve learning gains

Improving relevance and attractiveness of learner support services so as to encourage learners

to use them

Making as many of the support services as possible accessible to all learners

Diversifying learning materials in order to provide learning enrichment

Getting NAMCOL learners to understand the responsibilities of independent learning

Improving the commitment and professionalism of part-time tutors

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Improving the services of physically-challenged learners

Continuing with a strengthened multiple support model but moving more and more towards a

technology-enhanced model of learner support.

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Table of Contents Acknowledgements....................................................................................................................... i

Acronyms & Abbreviations .......................................................................................................... iii

Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................... iv

Findings .................................................................................................................................................. iv

Recommendations .................................................................................................................................. v

Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... vii

1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................................... 1

1.2 Objectives.................................................................................................................................... 1

2. Learner Support: Perspectives from the Literature................................................................. 2

2.1 Learner support –concept and practice ...................................................................................... 3

2.2 Why learner support in ODL ....................................................................................................... 4

2.3 Learner support activities ........................................................................................................... 5

3. Research Design and Methodology ....................................................................................... 6

3.1 Mixed methods design ................................................................................................................ 6

3.2 Sampling ...................................................................................................................................... 7

4. Collection of Quantitative Data ............................................................................................. 8

4.1 Training of fieldworkers .............................................................................................................. 8

4.2 Pilot testing instruments ............................................................................................................. 9

4.3 Fieldwork and data capturing ..................................................................................................... 9

5. Collection of qualitative data ................................................................................................ 9

5.1 One-to-One Interviews ............................................................................................................... 9

5.2 Focus Group Interviews ............................................................................................................ 10

6. Findings of the study........................................................................................................... 10

6.1 The Nature of Learner Support Services at NAMCOL ............................................................... 10

6.2 Student awareness of College services ..................................................................................... 12

6.3 Use of NAMCOL learner support services ................................................................................. 16

6.4 Accessibility of learner support services ................................................................................... 21

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6.5 Tutorial letters .......................................................................................................................... 24

6.6 Learning materials..................................................................................................................... 25

6.7 Tutorial services ........................................................................................................................ 26

6.8 Reasons for dropping out.......................................................................................................... 27

6.9 Multi media ............................................................................................................................... 30

6.10 Improving learner support at NAMCOL: The learner’s perspective ......................................... 30

6.11 The plight of physically challenged learners ............................................................................. 31

7. Recommendations .............................................................................................................. 32

7.1 Creating greater awareness of support services available ....................................................... 33

7.2 Improving usage of available services ...................................................................................... 33

7.3 Improving usefulness of services .............................................................................................. 33

7.4 Making all services accessible ................................................................................................... 34

7.5 Diversifying learning materials ................................................................................................. 34

7.6 Improving tutorial services ....................................................................................................... 34

7.7 Improving services for physically-challenged learners ............................................................. 35

7.8 Understanding responsibilities of independent learning ......................................................... 35

7.9 Recommended model ............................................................................................................... 37

8. References ......................................................................................................................... 38

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1. Introduction The Namibian College of Open Learning (NAMCOL) is a semi-autonomous educational institution

created by an Act of Parliament (Act 1 of 1997) and falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of

Education of Namibia. The College’s core activity has traditionally been its Secondary Education

programme which enables those who cannot or do not wish to attend formal schools to study for

either the Namibia Junior Secondary Certificate (JSC or Grade 10) or the Namibia Senior Secondary

Certificate (NSSC or Grade 12). In line with its Act, the College has, of late, diversified its offerings to

include professional and vocational programmes like Certificate in Early Childhood Development

(CECD), Certificate in Education for Development (CED), Certificate in Local Government Studies

(CLGS), Diploma in Youth Development Work (DYD), Certificate in Business Management (CBM),

Certificate in Community Based Work with Children and Youth (CWCY), Diploma in Education for

Development (DED), Diploma in Early Childhood and Pre-Primary Education (DECPPE), and

International Computer Driving License (ICDL). Over and above these professional and vocational

programmes, the College also offers technical programmes like Automotive Mechanics, Welding and

Metal Fabrication, Plumbing and Pipe-fitting, Office Administration, Basic Computer Literacy and

English Communication Course (ECC). These programmes have been introduced in response to the

needs of the national economy. The professional programmes are accredited by the Namibia

Qualification Authority (NQA) and some of the programmes are already registered on the National

Qualifications Framework. The secondary education study materials conform to the curricula of the

Namibian Junior and Senior Secondary Certificates and examinations are the same as those

administered in the formal school system. In 2014, the institution’s enrolment had soared to over 38

000 students, making it the biggest single education provider in the country. Given this mammoth

enrolment, the contribution of the College in forging national development cannot be

overemphasised.

In order to ensure that it continues to meet its national mandate effectively enough, NAMCOL

monitors and evaluates its programmes and services on an ongoing basis. Thus, the institution

invests much of its resources in the delivery of quality services to its learners. For this reason the

College commissioned a study on the learner support services it provides to students in early 2014.

The study was aimed at collecting evidence- based information on the quality of services NAMCOL

offers to its learners.

1.1 Purpose of the Study According to the Terms of Reference, the aim of the Learner Support Services Quality study was to

assess the nature, appropriateness and quality of learner support services offered to

students/learners2 pursuing various programmes offered by the College. The study highlights the

quality, adequacy and appropriateness of the learner support services at NAMCOL. The findings will

lead to a re-positioning of NAMCOL’s learners support services.

1.2 Objectives The specific objectives of the study were to:

2 In this report, the terms “student” and “learner” will be used interchangeably.

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Identify and evaluate the quality of learner support services at NAMCOL;

Identify key factors required to improve learner support services provided by NAMCOL; and

Provide research based information on the Learner Support Services for decision making process.

Make recommendations on the improvement of learner support services at the College

The following guiding research questions were used to focus the study:

1. What is the nature of NAMCOL’s learner support services? 2. To what extent do learner support services meet the needs of learners? 3. Do all learners receive the planned services? 4. What are the key factors that are required to improve learner support services at NAMCOL?

2. Learner Support: Perspectives from the Literature The subject of learner/student support is dealt with quite extensively in the literature. Whilst

learner support is an important aspect of teaching and learning processes, whether it is in face-to-

face encounters or distance education, it is given particular emphasis in open and distance learning

(ODL) because of its potential to bridge the transactional distance3 between the tutor and the

learner. The strength of an institution’s learner support system determines its ability to meet the

“three presences” that are critical success factors in distance learning, namely teacher presence,

social presence and cognitive presence.4 In ODL, teacher presence is about stimulating, guiding, and

supporting independent learning- enhancing Holmberg’s (1989) “guided didactic interaction”.5 Social

presence is about maximising dialogue in order to avoid subjecting distance learners to isolated

learning spaces that are boring and frustrating. Cognitive presence is an act of the mind; it is about

mental processing of information perceived/gained through experience and reflecting upon that

information in order to construct new knowledge. Reflection is triggered off by developmentally-

conceived learning activities that encourage the learner to think about what he/she has done or said

or written in a critical manner. For this to happen, appropriate conditions that encourage such

mental engagement have to be created. Thus, the fundamental purpose for learner support is to

create conditions where teacher presence, social presence and cognitive presence interplay in the

process of learning. This is a socially contrived environment achieved by employing multiple

strategies that often include the human agent as well as the technological medium. But what exactly

is learner support?

3Moore, M. (1997) "Theory of transactional distance." In Keegan, D., ed. Theoretical Principles of Distance

Education, Routledge, pp. 22-38.

4 Anderson, T. (2004) Teaching in an online learning context. In Anderson, T. & Elloumi, F. (eds.)

Theory and Practice of Online Learning, pp. 273-294, Athabasca University, Athabasca. 5 Holmberg (1989) cited in Anderson & Elloumi, (2004:276)

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2.1 Learner support –concept and practice Learner support is defined as the resources which learners can access in order to carry out planned

learning processes (Garrison and Bayton, (1987) cited in Usun, 2004)6. In distance education,

support is concerned with a range of human and non-human resources to guide and

facilitate the educational transaction (Garrison, 1989). According to Sewart (1993:12) “…learner

support is the interface between the institution and its students”. Thus, irrespective of where they

are, learners need to feel the presence and influence of the institution in their learning activities.

Sewart places emphasis on the contextual nature of learner support services offered by an

institution. He argues that student support services must be constructed in the context of the almost

infinite needs of the learners; are dependent on the educational ethos of the institution; on the

dispersal of the student body and the curriculum; and on the generic differences in the student body

which it has been set up to serve.7

Sweet’s (1993) notion of learner support is premised on the changing pedagogical practices that are

associated with the evolution of distance education from the industrial mode in which learners were

passive recipients of knowledge to more interactive forms of learning where learners search for and

construct their own knowledge. 8 Based on this notion of students as constructors of knowledge,

Sweet argues that support services need to maintain their involvement in the remediation of

student problems but, at the same time, they must become more active in promoting the

intellectual development and well-being of students. “The focus for this altered role is the

promotion of interaction among and between students and instructors through either mediated or

face-to-face means” (Sweet, 1993:1)

One of the prominent scholars who have written extensively on distance education generally and on

learner support in particular is Allan Tait. Tait’s view of student support is that it is ”… the range of

services both for individuals and students in groups which complement the course materials or

learning resources that are uniform for all learners, and which are often perceived as the major

offering of institutions using ODL”.9 Tait categorises the functions of student support into cognitive,

affective and systemic functions. Cognitive support entails supporting and developing learning

through the use of standard and uniform elements of course materials and other learning resources

for individual students. Affective support involves providing an environment which supports

students, creates commitment and enhances self-esteem. Systemic support is about establishing

administrative processes and information management systems which are effective, transparent and

6 Usun, S. (2004). Learner Support Services in Distance Education System.

Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, Vol. 5 (4). 7 Sewart (1993) cited in Brindley, J. (2004:11) Handbook B6: Research Tutoring and Learner Support, COL, Vancouver 8 Sweet, R. (1993) ‘Student support services: direction for change’. In R. Sweet

(ed.) Perspectives on distance education series: student support series: towards

more responsive systems, Vancouver: Commonwealth of Learning 9 Tait, A. (2002:288) ‘Planning student support for open and distance learning’. In Open

Learning 15 (3) :287-299

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student-friendly, (Tait, 2002:288). Thus, in Tait’s view learner support should be comprehensive

enough to cater not only for the mental enrichment of learners but also for the psychological, social

and affective needs. Apart from targeting groups, learner support should also target individuals. This

presupposes providing a wide range of support services within an institution.

Definitions of learner support provided by many other scholars do not significantly depart from the

above-cited notions. If anything, they only expand or contextualise the same notions of the concept.

Simpson, for instance defines learner support as “…all activities beyond the production and delivery

of course materials that assist in the progress of students in their studies”10. He argues that the first

group of such services deals with supporting students with their cognitive, intellectual and

knowledge issues relating to specific courses of study. The second group includes such activities as

advising, helping students assess their skills, advocacy, and administration.11

2.2 Why learner support in ODL Allan Tait identifies three reasons why learner support is necessary in ODL:

Most learners want support and interaction in their learning process, except for some 10% of students with personality types that may not want interaction with other students. The other 90% may look forward to it but demands on time and place prevalent in the lives of adult learners may constrain accessing such support services;

Learner support, especially guidance and counselling, tutor support, effective information and administration are all affective forms of support which reinforce learners’ sense of confidence and reduce drop-out rate; and

Learner support activities like tutoring in group work in tutorial centres or online and comments in marked assignments (termed ‘mediation’) have a positive impact on the learning process.12

As highlighted above, in ODL, learner support activities are aimed at reducing the transactional

distance between the tutor and the learner in order for the latter to achieve his/her learning

objectives. Therefore, learner support in its many forms is aimed at enhancing the conversation

between the learner, the tutor and the subject content. It is constituted:

Firstly, through integrated and structured dialogue in materials,

Secondly, through additional scheduled and targeted interventions aimed at formative development and demonstration of competencies, and

Thirdly, through additional support services that a learner can access at his or her own convenience (administrative support included).

10

Simpson, O. (2002:6) Supporting students in online, open and distance learning (2nd

edition), London: Kogan Page 11

ibid 12 Tait, A (2003) cited in Alaneme, G. C. & Olayiwola, P. O. (n.d.) Appraising the Organisation and Management

of Learner Support Services in Distance Learning (unpublished paper)

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The purpose of learner support in an ODL environment is well summarised by Brindley and his

colleagues who argue that an effective learner support system is characterised by the following

elements:

Responsiveness: It personalizes the learning process so as to be responsive to different individuals and groups (rather than relying on fixed elements such as a course syllabus).

Interactivity: It encourages and facilitates interaction among and between learner(s), faculty, tutor, institutional support persons and academic content.

Context Specificity: It exists to further the goals of a particular institution and serves the needs of its learners within its specific context.

Learner Development: It both facilitates learning within courses and addresses broader issues of student skill and personal development.

Openness to Change: Learner support systems evolve continuously to accommodate new learner populations, educational developments, economic conditions, technological advances, and findings from research and evaluation.

Integration: Effective learner support involves a high level of inter-functional collaboration and is seamless to the learner.13

Robinson concurs with Brindley in so far as the range and goals of learner support in ODL are

concerned. He posits that in an ODL environment, the goals of learner support include:

Providing interactivity and dialogue

Personalising a mass system

Mediating between learner and materials

Institutional responsiveness to individuals

Differentiation of support according to different needs14

2.3 Learner support activities A number of learner support activities are documented in the literature, although emphasis is placed

on the context of an institution. Some of the support activities drawn from the literature include:

Preparation for the challenges of distance learning

Career guidance and counselling

Remedial interventions such as responsible open admission programmes to help underprepared students achieve success (academic skills development included)

Continuous administrative support in the form of timely, accurate and accessible information to assist with all phases of the learning process (from application to graduation)

13

Brindley, J.E., Ossietzky C., and P. H. Paul. (2003). The Role of Learner Support in

Intuitional Transformation – A Case Study in the Making, University of Oldenburg and University of Windsor.

14 Robinson, B. (1995). Research and Pragmatism in Learner Support. In Lockwood, F (ed.) Open and Distance

Learning Today, Studies in Distance Education, London, Routledge.

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In-text support as part of well designed, integrated and structured courseware promoting dialogue between lecturer and student

Feedback to students on their learning

Study groups and centres – actual or virtual (electronics).

Access to libraries, laboratories and equipment.

Communication networks

Computer skills training, technology access, and library services

Tuition support in the form of detailed, individualized and timely feedback to formative assessment

Regional tutorials (discussions, practical sessions, demonstrations, etc.)

Peer and community support (self-help and mentoring from community members)

It is clear from Brindley and Robinson’s work that for an institution to meet the diverse needs of

learners effectively, it needs to know its learner profile, establish what the needs of the learners are,

decide on the most cost-effective way of meeting those needs and use different tools to address the

needs. This is a mammoth challenge especially where the number of learners is high. Making use of

a decentralised system that is sensitive to learner needs and tracks learner progress is one way of

addressing the challenge.

As Kishore would argue, failure or success and the overall image of an institution is determined

by the strength and weakness of the student support services in place.15

3. Research Design and Methodology

3.1 Mixed methods design In this study, both quantitative and qualitative methods of collecting data were used. The mixed

methods approach to the study was advantageous in that whilst it allowed eliciting information from

a large group of learners in the shortest possible time, it also provided an opportunity for not only

probing some of the views raised by learners, but also triangulating the research data.

NAMCOL learners were the key respondents in this study. This is primarily because learner support is

the hallmark for both student retention and academic success in distance learning, and students’

views on the appropriateness, adequacy and usefulness of support services are the best indicators

for the quality of such provision. In order to reach as many students as possible and draw reliable

and valid conclusions, a questionnaire was administered amongst students on their views on learner

support services they get from the College. In undertaking studies where conclusions are based on

15 Kishore, S. (1998) Student Support and Quality Indicators in Distance Learning, Indian Journal of Open

Learning, 7(2), 205-212.

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people’s opinions, it is always useful to achieve some form of data triangulation. Over and above

surveying students’ views, opinions of key NAMCOL staff were also sought. Thus, a similar survey

was administered amongst NAMCOL tutors throughout the regions in order to source their opinions

on learner support services at NAMCOL.

Targeted interviews were also conducted with all the four regional managers from NAMCOL regions,

one Area Coordinator from each of the four NAMCOL regions, Distance Education Coordinators

based at NAMCOL headquarters, the Learner Support Manager and the Deputy Director for Learner

Support also based at the headquarters. Thus, whilst the current study was largely quantitative, it

also had a qualitative dimension that helped bolster the research data. As highlighted above, an

important strength of this design is that it allowed for both data as well as methodological

triangulation.

3.2 Sampling The population for the study consisted of all registered students of the College in the 2014 academic

year, excluding students registered on the Technical and Vocational programmes. The latter

programmes are new programmes where students have not had enough experience with NAMCOL

services to be able to give useful opinions on the College’s learner support services. The population

for the study therefore consisted of NAMCOL secondary and professional programmes.

To determine an appropriate sample size from the population, the following formula from Suber

Peter, (2012)16 was used:

n =

In the formula, n stands for the sample size and N for size of the population.

Apart from selecting a sample of the correct size, in order to allow generalisation of findings, the

sample should also be truly representative of the population in terms of population characteristics.

Thus, the sample for the study was selected by programme of study, by regional distribution and by

rural and urban location of the students. In arriving at the appropriate sample size, over and above

being guided by the formula cited above, the researcher also had to make allowance for possible

spoiling of questionnaires and cases of non-return of completed questionnaires. Thus, the calculated

sample had to be increased by a reasonable margin for this purpose.

Based on the above sampling technique, the following sample composition was used for the study:

16

Suber Peter, (2012) Open Access: The MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series Edition.). Cambridge,

Massachusttes.: MIT Press. ISBN 9780262517638.

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Table 1: Sample of study by programme

Course Number Percentage

JSC 205 30.4%

NSSCO 421 62.5%

NSSCH 24 3.6%

CED 14 2.1%

CLGS 3 0.4%

CBM 3 0.4%

CWCY 1 0.1%

DED 2 0.3%

DECPPE 2 0.3%

DYD 1 0.1%

Total 676 100%

Expressed by programme of study and by region, the sample is as shown in Fig 1 below:

Fig. 1: Sample of study by programme by region

4. Collection of Quantitative Data

4.1 Training of fieldworkers To maximise the return rate of both learner and staff surveys, field workers were deployed to all the

four NAMCOL regions to administer questionnaires at learning centres. In order to facilitate the

efficient administration of the questionnaires, all the field workers had to attend a one-day training

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workshop in Windhoek. The content of the workshop included the aims and objectives of the study,

the methodology for the study, including how respondents were sampled and the general

procedures for fieldwork. Field workers were also exposed to pertinent research field work issues

like the need for maintaining effective communication channels with the fieldwork manager during

data collection, how to deal with problems in the field, ensuring that respondents complete all items

on the questionnaire and safe-keeping of research materials. They were also inducted on the ethics

of fieldwork.

The workshop also focused on getting fieldworkers to understand the items in both the learners’ and

the staff questionnaires. To achieve this, fieldworkers were taken through the two instruments, item

by item. The main purpose of the exercise was to enable fieldworkers to understand what

information each item was meant to elicit. This would enable fieldworkers to explain to respondents

wherever they didn’t understand. To ensure that fieldworkers had grasped what they had learnt,

they were asked to use NAMCOL learners at the Katutura campus to do a mock exercise. After this

exercise, they met again and shared experiences in a plenary session. The project manager together

with the fieldwork manager answered questions that came out of the mock exercise. This process

helped in the rewording of some of the items in the questionnaire in order to make them clearer for

respondents.

4.2 Pilot testing instruments After fieldwork training and to ensure that all items in the learner instrument were clear enough, the

fieldwork training workshop was followed up by pilot testing of the instrument in tutorial centres in

Windhoek. This exercise happened a week after the fieldwork training and involved fewer

fieldworkers, working with the fieldwork manager. The fieldwork manager shared the outcome of

the pilot testing of instruments with the research manager. Research instruments were refined and

finalised on the basis of the pilot test and were submitted to NAMCOL for final checking and

printing.

4.3 Fieldwork and data capturing The bulk of the fieldwork was conducted over a period of two weeks, with a little bit of mopping up

taking place in the third week. All completed questionnaires were sent to Windhoek for data

capturing by the Windhoek-based fieldwork manager, working with a few data capturers. To

facilitate capturing of data in a form that would allow analysis, data capturing spreadsheets were

prepared in advance and sent to the data capturers. The spreadsheets allowed for checking the

accuracy of data captured.

After all the survey data were captured, the spreadsheets were sent to the research manager for

analysis and write up.

5. Collection of qualitative data

5.1 One-to-One Interviews The researcher chose to interview some stakeholders on a one-to-one basis mainly because of the

positions they occupy in the planning and implementation of learners support services at NAMCOL.

10

Where a respondent was understood to play a central role in the planning and monitoring of learner

service provision, a one-on-one interview was considered the most appropriate method of eliciting

his/her individual views, opinions and concerns. Appendix X of this report lists key stakeholders who

were interviewed as individuals.

5.2 Focus Group Interviews Focus group interviews are generally used where respondents have a reasonably high degree of

homogeneity in terms of their roles and their status in an organisation. They should feel free to talk

about issues under investigation and in ways that encourage them to engage positively with the

research process. At the same time, they should be well conversant with the complexity

surrounding social issues within the context of lived experience. Thus, their selection is based on the

concept of “Applicability”, in which subjects are selected on the basis of their knowledge of issues

under study. The focus group technique involves the use of in-depth group interviews in which

participants are selected because they are a purposive, although not necessarily a representative,

sample of a specific population. Discussion within the group is not allowed to range freely, but

rather is ‘focused’ by a facilitator on a given subject or topic. As literature affirms, the uniqueness of

a focus group is its ability to generate data based on the synergy of the group interaction.17

For this study, the only participants who were involved in focus group interviews were Distance

Education Coordinators at the NAMCOL headquarters. These were selected on the criteria that they

would have something to say on the topic, had similar socio-characteristics and would be

comfortable talking to the interviewer and each other on issues pertaining to the planning,

implementation and monitoring of learner support services at NAMCOL. The rest of the interviews

were conducted on a one-on-one basis, either face-to-face or telephonically.

6. Findings of the study

6.1 The Nature of Learner Support Services at NAMCOL In line with its mission of… “providing wider access to quality educational services for our learners

and other customers using a variety of open learning methods”18 NAMCOL offers a wide range of

support services to its learners throughout its four regions. Key amongst these services are the

following:

Study guides for the courses enrolled

Tutors’ comments on marked assignments

Face-to-face tutorials

Telephone communications with tutors

Tutorial letters

17 Green JM, Draper AK & Dowler EA (2003) cited in Rabiee, Fatemeh (2004).

18 Graduation Ceremony Professional Programme 2014, p2

11

Orientation workshops

Academic counselling

Study groups

It is noteworthy that over and above the above-listed services, there are many other learner support

services NAMCOL extends to learners. This study surveyed learners’ opinions on at least 39 different

types of support services. In order to meet the needs of the wide range of learners at the College,

some services are targeted at particular programmes and not necessarily others. For instance, the

regular face-to-face tutorials, events such as prize giving ceremonies and open days are targeted at

secondary education learners whilst graduation ceremonies, practicums, mentor sessions and extra

support classes are targeted at learners on the professional programmes. Most of the services are

however open to all learners in the College, irrespective of the programme they pursue.

An interesting point to note is that NAMCOL acknowledges the advent of educational technologies

and is making concerted effort to embrace the technology to improve its learner support services.

Amongst the many services extended to learners are the use of email for communicating with

learners, internet access for searching for enrichment learning materials including open education

resources, use of the NAMCOL website to access pertinent information relating to learners’ studies,

use of video recorded information and radio tutorials. The institution has established a recording

studio at the Yama Yetu Centre located at the Headquarters in Windhoek. The College also put in

place a bulk SMS facility that facilitates instant communication with learners. Thus, apart from

making use of computer supported services, the College also tries to exploit technologies prevalent

in communities and therefore amongst learners, like cell phones and the radio.

It is worth noting that NAMCOL has MOODLE Learning Management System (LMS) where learners

can access a variety of open education resources to support their studies. Amongst open schooling

initiatives in the Southern African region, NAMCOL is currently the only institution that is harnessing

the affordances of OER and LMS in a systematic way for the benefit of learners. An important aspect

of learner support in distance education is the human element as an essential ingredient of learning.

It is clear from arguments on e-learning that whilst technology is a valuable medium of learning, the

human element is critical in terms of creating the right environment for learning to take place. This is

particularly true with young learners who are of school going age. About 58% of the sample used for

this study consisted of learners under the age 20. These are young people who typically prefer to

learn in a social environment where they exchange face-to-face with tutors and with their peers.

Where technology is involved, the role of the tutor/teacher in structuring Web content, in designing

learning activities that promote high order thinking skills, and in providing an opportunity for sharing

and collaborating remains central in online learning. Learner support services at NAMCOL consist of

both technology-supported services (like telephone calls, Short Message Services (SMS), email,

Learning Management System (LMS) and website) as well as direct human contact services (like

regular tutorial encounters, vacation workshops, mentor sessions and study groups). Specially

designed paper based study materials for independent study are also extensively used at NAMCOL.

These materials are in the form of study guides/course books and have the “teacher” built into

them.

12

6.2 Student awareness of College services The study also surveyed which support services learners were aware of. This was done in order to

establish whether there is awareness of learner support services across the four regions and in rural

as well as by urban learners. Table 2 below shows patterns relating to such awareness:

Table 2: Student awareness of NAMCOL support services

Learner Support Service Number Percentage 1. Orientation workshops 269 39.9%

2. Academic Counselling 256 38.0%

3. Student Guidance 211 31.3%

4. Telephone Contact with Learner Support Office 83 12.3%

5. Telephone Contact with Area Coordinator 66 9.8%

6. Telephone Contact with Distance Education Coordinator 78 11.6%

7. Telephone Contact with Tutors/Lecturers 308 45.7%

8. Telephone Contact with Heads of tutorial centres 117 17.4%

9. Other means of communication with Learner Support Office 54 8.0%

10. Other means of communication with Area Coordinator 32 4.7%

11. Other means of communication with Education Coordinator 49 7.3%

12. Other means of communication with Tutors/Lecturers 169 25.1%

13. Other means of correspondence with Heads of tutorial centres 85 12.6%

14. Graduation Ceremonies 57 8.5%

15. Prize giving ceremonies 143 21.2%

16. Events such as Open Days and Information Campaigns 105 15.6%

17. Practicum (only applicable to professional programmes) 17 2.5%

18. Students’ Newsletter 124 18.4%

19. Field Trips 64 9.5%

20. Access to Library Services, Borrowing Books and Other Resources 147 21.8%

21. NOLNET centres 31 4.6%

22. Study Guides/Course Book 615 91.2%

23. Tutorial Letters 272 40.4%

24. Face to Face Tutorials 322 47.8%

25. Study Groups 255 37.8%

26. Mentor Sessions (only applicable to professional programmes) 11 1.6%

27. Extra Support Classes (only applicable to professional programmes) 91 13.5%

28. Vacation Workshops 142 21.1%

29. E-Mail 43 6.4%

30. Internet Access 114 16.9%

31. NAMCOL Website 94 13.9%

32. Computer Assisted Learning/Web-based Learning 100 14.8%

33. Video Recorded Information 64 9.5%

34. Radio Tutorials 110 16.3%

35. Audio Recorded Information 71 10.5%

36. Information Manual/ Learner Handbooks 109 16.2%

37. Comments from Tutors on Tutor Marked Assignments 345 51.2%

13

38. Information via SMS 135 20.0%

39. Toll free line 50 7.4%

40. Brochures/Prospectus 109 16.2%

41. Information leaflets 105 15.6%

42. Other (Please Specify) 15 2.2%

Table 2 shows that generally students are aware of the various learner support services offered at

NAMCOL, some services being better known than others. The majority of the respondents (91.2%)

indicated that they are aware of the NAMCOL study guides/course books. This confirms NAMCOL

documentation that all learners who register get a study pack right at the beginning. These are

materials that cover the subject syllabuses being followed. Apart from study guides, learners are

aware of comments in tutor-marked assignments (51.2%), face-to-face tutorials (47.8%), telephonic

contacts with tutors (45.7%), tutorial letters (40%), orientation workshops (39.9%), academic

counselling (38%) and study groups (37.8%)19.

It is also interesting to note that only 9.8% of the respondents were aware that they can

communicate with Area Coordinators by telephone and only 4.6% were aware of NOLNET centres. It

appears from the survey data that most of the learners are not aware of email, internet and website

facilities offered by the College. A paltry 6.4%, 16.9% and 13.9% respectively showed awareness of

these technology-related services. The same applies to video recorded information and computer-

assisted/web-based learning services, which had 9.5% and 14.8% awareness respectively20.

To enable students to communicate directly with the Headquarter staff whenever there is need,

NAMCOL put in place a toll-free call line. This facility is common in prominent open school systems

with large numbers of learners, and is generally extensively used. A typical example of open schools

with highly active call centres is the National Institute of Open Schooling in India, where the call

centre is open 24 hours a day and there is full-time staff manning the facility. The current survey

revealed that only 7.4% of the respondents were aware of this important facility. Of this percentage,

18% are from the Central Region, 8.0% from North Eastern, 42% from the Northern and 32% from

the Southern Region. Table 3 below shows how students that showed awareness of the several of

NAMCOL’s services are distributed across the four regions.

Table 3: Students’ awareness of NAMCOL support services by region21

Learner Support Service Central North Eastern Northern Southern

1. Orientation workshops 27% 65% 53% 19%

2. Academic Counselling 39% 38% 51% 23%

3. Student Guidance 27% 29% 39% 26%

19

Percentages for support services that learners are mostly aware of are highlighted in yellow and brown in

Table 2 20

Percentages for support services that learners are least aware of are highlighted in red in Table 2 21

In Table 3, yellow highlights highest awareness percentages for each service and red highlights overall lowest

awareness percentage. A few services that are targeted at small groups of learners have not been highlighted in

this table.

14

4. Telephone with Learner Support Office 9% 8% 21% 7%

5. Telephone with Area Coordinator 4% 9% 12% 10%

6. Telephone with Distance Education Coordinator 17% 14% 13% 6%

7. Telephone with Tutors/Lecturers 55% 48% 52% 33%

8. Telephone with Heads of tutorial centres 9% 20% 24% 12%

9. Other means with the Learner Support Office 7% 7% 12% 5%

10. Other means with the Area Coordinator 5% 4% 6% 4%

11. Other means with Distance Education Coordinator 7% 6% 10% 5%

12. Other means with Tutors/Lecturers 21% 23% 34% 18%

13. Other means with Heads of tutorial centres 5% 11% 20% 8%

14. Graduation Ceremonies 13% 4% 11% 5%

15. Prize giving ceremonies 26% 23% 22% 17%

16. Open Days and Information Campaigns 17% 12% 18% 14%

17. Practicum 4% 2% 3% 2%

18. Students’ Newsletter 27% 12% 21% 14%

19. Field Trips 9% 6% 12% 9%

20. Library Services, Borrowing Books 19% 23% 19% 26%

21. NOLNET centres 4% 3% 2% 8%

22. Study Guides/Course Book 89% 84% 90% 97%

23. Tutorial Letters 45% 51% 41% 31%

24. Face to Face Tutorials 42% 80% 46% 36%

25. Study Groups 37% 39% 47% 27%

26. Mentor Sessions 3% 0% 2% 2%

27. Extra Support Classes 13% 17% 17% 8%

28. Vacation Workshops 18% 26% 24% 17%

29. E-Mail 5% 6% 7% 7%

30. Internet Access 16% 14% 14% 22%

31. NAMCOL Website 18% 10% 14% 14%

32. Computer /Web-based Learning 9% 23% 10% 19%

33. Video Recorded Information 8% 7% 9% 12%

34. Radio Tutorials 20% 13% 17% 16%

35. Audio Recorded Information 8% 19% 7% 12%

15

36. Information Manual/ Learner Handbooks 12% 14% 22% 13%

37. Comments on Tutor Marked Assignments 42% 63% 63% 37%

38. Information via SMS 27% 20% 22% 14%

39. Toll free line 8% 4% 9% 8%

40. Brochures/Prospectus 23% 27% 12% 12%

41. Information leaflets 19% 18% 14% 15%

42. Other (Please Specify) 0% 4% 3% 2%

Of the respondents who showed awareness of NAMCOL services, the highest percentages for most

services are registered in the Northern Region, with the exception of library services, NOLNET

Centres, internet access, video recorded information which are highest in the Southern Region. The

greatest percentages of respondents who showed awareness of NAMCOL brochures/prospectus,

tutorial letters, orientation workshops and face-to-face tutorials are in the North Eastern Region.

Academic counselling, radio tutorials, NAMCOL website and the SMS facility are most known by

learners in the Central Region. Survey results also show that technology supported services like

internet, web-based learning, video and audio-recorded information as well as radio tutorials are

some of the least known services in all the regions. The highest awareness rate22 for:

Internet is in the Southern region (22%),

Web-based learning is in the North Eastern region (19%),

Video recorded information is in the Southern region (12%),

Audio recorded information in the North Eastern region (19%, and

Radio tutorials in the Central region (20%)

Trends shown in table 3 above on learners’ awareness of NAMCOL services correspond with staff responses on the services the latter are aware of. Services that are least known by learners are also the same services tutors are least familiar with, and vice versa. Table 4 below shows six services tutors are most familiar with and six they are least familiar with. The numbers in brackets show number of respondents out of the sample of 65 staff surveyed.

Table 4: Tutors’ Familiarity with NAMCOL Services

Staff familiarity with Services

(Number of respondents)

Staff familiarity with Services

(Number of respondents)

1. Orientation workshops (53) Web-based learning (4)

2. Study guides (43) NOLNET Centres (7)

22

The regional awareness rate reflects total number of respondents indicating awareness of a service compared

to total number of respondents on the service in that region

16

3. Tutorial letters (42) Email (9)

4. Vacation workshops (40) Access to libraries (9)

5. Face-to-face tutorials (39) Internet (12)

6. Academic counselling (30) Toll free line (15)

6.3 Use of NAMCOL learner support services In addition to investigating learner awareness of NAMCOL services, the study also looked at the all important aspect of service usage – do students make use of the services at their disposal? In order to establish the extent of usage, we asked learners to indicate which services they have used during their studies at the College. The top six services most used by students, in their order of priority are face to face tutorials (76.9%), Study Guides/Course Books (73.5%), comments from tutors on tutor marked assignments (61.0%), orientation workshops (53.7%), telephone contacts with tutors (47.7%), and study groups (44.0%). The six services learners reported they make least use of are NOLNET centres (1.9%), Email (1.9%),

Toll-free line (1.9%), Video Recorded Information (3.7%), Audio Recorded Information (5.8%), and

Radio Tutorials (10.9%).

Using chi-square, at alpha = 0.01, survey data shows significant differences between regions in terms of use of most of the support services investigated (including orientation workshops, academic counselling, student guidance, telephone contacts with tutors and with heads of tutorial centers, access to library centres, study groups, internet access, web-based learning). Table 4 below shows usage patterns of services by region. Table 5: Use of NAMCOL Learner Support Services by Region23

Learner Support Service Central North Eastern

Northern Southern

1. Orientation workshops

23.0% 53.7% 47.3% 13.7%

2. Academic Counselling

28.3% 22.2% 40.2% 15.1%

3. Student Guidance

28.3% 22.2% 35.7% 18.9%

4. Telephone Contact with Learner Support Office 8.8% 11.1% 18.7% 4.7%

5. Telephone Contact with Area Coordinator 7.1% 3.7% 12.9% 3.3%

6. Telephone Contact with Distance Education Coordinator

5.3% 6.5% 11.6% 6.6%

7. Telephone Contact with Tutors/Lecturers 39.8% 35.2% 47.7% 22.6%

8. Telephone Contact with Heads of tutorial centres 8.0% 10.2% 23.7% 8.0%

9. Other means of correspondence with Learner Support Office

4.4% 7.4% 9.5% 4.2%

23

In Table 5, green shows the regions in which service usage is highest

17

10. Other means of correspondence with Area Coordinator 1.8% 1.9% 6.2% 2.4%

11. Other means of correspondence with Distance Education Coordinator

4.4% 0.9% 7.5% 1.9%

12. Other means of correspondence with Tutors/Lecturers 23.9% 17.6% 32.0% 14.6%

13. Other means of correspondence with Heads of tutorial centres

8.0% 7.4% 19.1% 5.2%

14. Graduation Ceremonies

6.2% 0.9% 5.4% 3.8%

15. Prize giving ceremonies

7.1% 8.3% 12.0% 9.4%

16. Open Days and Information Campaigns

7.1% 6.5% 17.4% 9.0%

17. Practicum (only applicable to professional programmes)

2.7% 0.9% 1.2% 0.5%

18. Students’ Newsletter

17.7% 6.5% 18.7% 11.3%

19. Field Trips

6.2% 3.7% 6.6% 5.7%

20. Library Services & Borrowing Books

8.0% 12.0% 14.1% 23.6%

21. NOLNET centres

3.5% 1.9% 2.9% 3.3%

22. Study Guides/Course Book

73.5% 71.3% 67.2% 43.9%

23. Tutorial Letters

29.2% 40.7% 41.5% 21.7%

24. Face to Face Tutorials at Tutorial Centres

35.4% 76.9% 49.0% 34.0%

25. Study Groups

25.7% 30.6% 44.0% 22.2%

26. Mentor Sessions

4.4% 0.0% 2.5% 1.4%

27. Extra Support Classes

9.7% 10.2% 17.4% 8.5%

28. Vacation Workshops

8.8% 19.4% 19.5% 9.0%

29. E-Mail

5.3% 1.9% 2.1% 5.2%

30. Internet Access

8.8% 12.0% 7.5% 18.4%

31. NAMCOL Website

12.4% 6.5% 9.5% 7.5%

32. Computer Assisted Learning/Web-based Learning

5.3% 13.9% 3.7% 11.8%

33. Video Recorded Information

6.2% 3.7% 9.1% 6.1%

34. Radio Tutorials

15.9% 8.3% 11.6% 8.5%

35. Audio Recorded Information

7.1% 13.0% 5.8% 7.1%

36. Information Manual/ Learner Handbooks

11.5% 10.2% 20.3% 9.4%

37. Tutor Comments on Marked Assignments

35.4% 54.6% 61.0% 27.4%

38. Information via SMS

18.6% 17.6% 19.1% 12.7%

39. Toll free line

5.3% 1.9% 5.0% 2.8%

40. Brochures/Prospectus

17.7% 21.3% 14.1% 12.3%

41. Information leaflets

15.0% 17.6% 15.8% 12.3%

42. Other (Please Specify)

2.7% 0.9% 2.5% 0.0%

18

Of interest to note is the correlation between students’ awareness and usage of learner support

services. The table below clearly shows the correlation pattern between these two variables -

awareness and usage.

Table 6: Student awareness and usage of the top popular support services

Type of service Student awareness Student usage

NAMCOL study guides/course books 91.2% (61.6%),

Comments in tutor-marked assignments 51.2% (45.1%),

Face-to-face tutorials 47.8% (46.4%),

Telephonic contacts with tutors 45.7% (36.5%),

Tutorial letters 40.4% (33.1%).

Orientation workshops 39.9% 33.7%),

Academic counselling 38% 27.4%

Study groups 37.8% 31.9%).

If all the responses for awareness are correlated with all responses for usage, the pattern depicted in

Figure 2 below emerges.

Fig 2: Correlation between student awareness and usage of support services

19

Both Table 5 and Fig. 2 above show a very strong correlation between students’ awareness of

learner support services provided by NAMCOL and levels of usage. This is not surprising, as the more

one is aware of the existence of something the more they are likely to use it, if they perceive it

useful. It is also clear that the services students know about least (email communication 6%, toll free

line7%, video recorded information 9%, telephone communication with Area Coordinator 10%,

audio recorded information 11% and NAMCOL website 14%,) also have low usage levels. Caution

must be taken in interpreting survey data and consider those services that are targeted only at

professional programmes that had small representations in the sample, and hence show low

percentages of usage (e.g. mentor sessions with only 2% awareness and same percentage usage,

practicums with only 3% awareness and 1% usage and extra support classes with only 14%

awareness and 12% usage).

Comparison of awareness and usage factors also reveals interesting patterns where, in almost all the

cases students show higher levels of awareness of the existence of services than levels of usage. In

other words, students do not always make use of services they know exist in the College. Although

the differences between awareness and usage are quite marginal, it is worth further interrogating

this aspect in order to fully understand why such differences exist. There is a high probability that

whilst the College may offer a myriad of services, learners may not perceive some of them as useful

for their studies. In some instances, students may be experiencing constraints when it comes to

accessing some of the services. Table 4 below shows the variance between learners’ awareness of

service and usage.

Table 7: Variation between Learners’ Awareness of Service and Usage24

Learner Support Service Awareness Usage Difference

1. Orientation workshops 40% 34% 6%

2. Academic Counselling (e.g. study techniques, time management, examination skills) 38% 27% 11%

3. Student Guidance (e.g. programmes to pursue at NAMCOL and at tertiary level) 31% 27% 4%

4. Telephone Contact with Learner Support Office 12% 11% 1%

5. Telephone Contact with Area Coordinator 10% 7% 2%

6. Telephone Contact with Distance Education Coordinator: 12% 8% 3%

7. Telephone Contact with Tutors/Lecturers 46% 36% 9%

8. Telephone Contact with Heads of tutorial centres 17% 14% 3%

9. Other means of correspondence with the Learner Support Office 8% 7% 1%

10. Other means of correspondence with the Area Coordinator 5% 4% 1%

11. Other means of correspondence with Distance Education Coordinator 7% 4% 3%

12. Other means of correspondence with Tutors/Lecturers 25% 23% 2%

13. Other means of correspondence with Heads of tutorial centres 13% 11% 2%

24

Percentages denoting high variations between awareness and usage are highlighted in table 7

20

14. Graduation Ceremonies (only applicable to professional programmes) 8% 4% 4%

15. Prize giving ceremonies (only secondary education programmes) 21% 23% -2%

16. Events such as Open Days and Information Campaigns (only secondary education programmes) 16% 11% 4%

17. Practicum (only professional programmes) 3% 1% 1%

18. Students’ Newsletter 18% 14% 4%

19. Field Trips 9% 6% 4%

20. Access to Library Services, Borrowing Books and Other Resources 22% 16% 6%

21. NOLNET centres 5% 3% 2%

22. Study Guides/Course Book 91% 62% 30%

23. Tutorial Letters 40% 33% 7%

24. Face to Face Tutorials (only secondary education programmes) 48% 46% 1%

25. Study Groups 38% 32% 6%

26. Mentor Sessions (only professional programmes) 2% 2% 0%

27. Extra Support Classes (only professional programmes) 14% 12% 1%

28. Vacation Workshops 21% 14% 7%

29. E-Mail 6% 4% 3%

30. Internet Access 17% 12% 5%

31. NAMCOL Website 14% 9% 5%

32. Computer Assisted Learning/Web-based Learning 15% 8% 7%

33. Video Recorded Information 9% 7% 3%

34. Radio Tutorials 16% 11% 5%

35. Audio Recorded Information 11% 8% 3%

36. Information Manual for Distance Education Students/ Learner Handbooks 16% 14% 2%

37. Comments from Tutors on Tutor Marked Assignments 51% 45% 6%

38. Information via SMS 20% 17% 3%

39. Toll free line 7% 4% 4%

40. Brochures/Prospectus 16% 15% 1%

41. Information leaflets 16% 15% 1%

42. Other (Please Specify) 2% 1% 1%

The disparity between learners’ awareness and their usage of NAMCOL support service is worth

further interrogation. Bridging the gap between the two requires targeted strategies that are

informed by the dynamics involved. In this study, an attempt was made to try and solicit information

21

from learners on how useful they found the services they used. Learners were asked to rate the

services used on a scale ranging from very poor to excellent. Notable amongst the services rated

lowest are NOLNET centres, web-based learning and the toll-free facility. Column A in Table 8 shows

the ten services rated lowest by learners in terms of their usefulness. Tutors’ comments on marked

assignments, face-to-face tutorials, tutorial letters and telephone communications with tutors were

rated highest in terms of usefulness. The ten services ranked highest by learners are shown in

column B in Table 8.

Table 8: Usefulness of Support Services

COLUMN A: Services rated

Very Poor - Poor

% rating

service

negatively

COLUMN B: Services rated

Good – Excellent

% rating

service

positively

1. Practicum (only applicable to professional programmes)

56 Comments from Tutors on Tutor Marked Assignments

79.6

2. NOLNET centres 49.5 Study Guides/Course Book 76.9

3. Computer Assisted Learning/Web-based Learning

47.6 Face to Face Tutorials 73.5

4. Mentor Sessions (only applicable to professional programmes)

47.5 Tutorial Letters 71.2

5. Toll free line 47.3 Telephone contact with tutors/lecturers

67.3

6. E-Mail 42.2 Orientation workshops 65.4

7. Telephone contact with Distance Education Coordinator

42.1 Academic Counselling

60.7

8. Telephone contact with Area Coordinator

41.4 Telephone contact with Heads of tutorial centres

58.7

9. NAMCOL Website

36.7 Information via SMS 55.3

10. Other forms of correspondence with Learner Support Office/r

33.2 Internet Access 48.5

6.4 Accessibility of learner support services Learners also responded to the question on the accessibility of NAMCOL services. The aspect of

accessibility of services is very important as often, it determines the extent to which learners use the

services. Figure 3 below shows the most accessible services at the College. It is clear from Fig. 3 that

most of the services reported to be most used by learners in Table 4 above are also reported to be

most accessible. The exception to this is the internet facility which had low levels of both awareness

and usage in Table 4 but high levels of accessibility in Fig 3. Learner responses suggest that although

they are aware of the existence of internet in the College, they do not seem to make much use of

the service. Further investigation is required in order to establish reasons why this is the case.

22

Fig. 3: Most Accessible Services at NAMCOL

Learner support services with the lowest accessibility levels are the toll-free telephone facility,

mentor sessions, field trips and telephone contact with Area Coordinators.

It is interesting to note that learner surveys show that of all the 39 support services included in the

survey instrument, none of them has an accessibility rate of less than 50%. This is in spite of the low

levels of usage of some of the services reported in Table 4 above. The least accessible service were

the toll-free facility with 52.3%, mentor sessions with 53.4% (only applicable to learners doing CWCY

and CED), field trips with 53.8% and telephone contact with Area Coordinators with 55.7%. If all the

39 learner support services are categorised according to their accessibility ratings, 6 of them fall in

the 80% + category, 11 in the 70-79% category, 16 in the 60-69% and only 6 in the 50-59% category.

Table 6 shows the rating of support services by category.

Table 9: Rating of Accessibility of Learner Support Services by Learners

Accessibility Rating (%) Services Number of Services

80+ Telephone contact with tutors/lecturers

Study Guides/Course Book

Tutorial Letters

Face to Face Tutorials at Tutorial Centres (only applicable to secondary education programmes)

Comments from Tutors on Tutor Marked Assignments

Information via SMS

6

23

70-79 Orientation workshops

Academic Counselling (e.g. study techniques, time management, examination skills)

Student Guidance (e.g. programmes to pursue at NAMCOL and at Tertiary level)

Telephone contact with Heads of tutorial centres

Other forms of correspondence with Tutors

Study Groups

Internet Access

NAMCOL Website

Radio Tutorials

Audio Recorded Information

Information Manual for Distance Education Students/ Learner Handbooks

11

60-69 Telephone Contact with Learners Support Office/r

Other forms of correspondence with Learner Support Office/r

Graduation Ceremonies (only applicable to professional programmes)

Prize giving ceremonies (only applicable to secondary education programmes)

Events such as Open Days and Information Campaigns (only applicable to secondary education programmes)

Practicum (only applicable to CECD, DED & DECPPE students)

Students’ Newsletter

Access to Library Services, Borrowing Books and Other Resources

NOLNET centres

Vacation Workshops

E-Mail

Computer Assisted Learning/Web-based Learning

Video Recorded Information

Brochures/Prospectus

Information leaflets

Other (Please Specify)

16

50-59 Telephone contact with Area Coordinator

Telephone contact with Distance Education Coordinator

Field Trips

Mentor Sessions (only applicable to professional programmes)

Extra Support Classes (only applicable to CLGS students)

Toll free line

6

Total Services 39

Figure 4 below shows (at a glance) the general pattern of how services were ranked by learners in

terms of their accessibility:

24

Fig. 4: Rating of Accessibility of Learner Support Services

6.5 Tutorial letters Tutorial letters are an important teaching strategy in distance learning. The management of this

facility therefore determines the extent to which learners benefit from it. In this study, learners were

asked to indicate whether such letters reach them timely, whether they find the language used easy

to understand and whether they find the information therein useful. A summary of learner

responses shown in Fig 4 below shows that generally, leaners are happy with the tutorial letters;

they get the letters in time, they understand the language used and they also find the information

useful for their studies.

25

Fig. 5 Learners’ Views on Tutorial

Letters

Learner views on the effectiveness of tutorial letters were also confirmed by data from the staff. Of

the surveyed staff, 93% rated tutorial letters positively in terms of their effectiveness in enhancing

learning.

6.6 Learning materials In Open and Distance Learning, the teacher is built into the learning materials that are used by

learners. The quality of the materials and the timely delivery to learners are critical factors affecting

the extent to which learners benefit from them. The survey solicited information from learners on

the user friendliness of the learning materials. Figure 5 summarises learner’s views on the materials

they use. Whilst generally learners confirm they receive learning materials timely and the materials

are developed in language they find easy to understand, quite a significant proportion of

respondents (33.8%) feel that the materials are not sufficient for their needs. This indicates need for

diversifying what is currently available to learners. This aspect on diversifying learning materials is

also raised as one of the areas that need improvement.

26

Fig. 6: Learners’ Views on NAMCOL Learning Materials

An important aspect linked to diversity of learner materials is accessibility of library resources.

Generally, surveyed learners indicated that they do not have access to library resources or

borrowing books for use at home. This finding is confirmed by survey data from staff. Of the 56

NAMCOL staff that was surveyed, only 8 indicated that learners have access to library resources. Of

these 8, 6 are in the North Eastern region and 2 from the Central region.

6.7 Tutorial services Over and above tutorial letters and learning materials, NAMCOL has other forms of tutoring distance

learners so as to boost support for learners. This includes face-to-face contacts with tutors, a very

important social aspect of learning. The following table shows how surveyed learners feel about the

quality of tutorial services they enjoy at NAMCOL.

Table 10: Quality of Tutorial Services

NAMCOL tutors are readily available when I need them

Communication style with tutors is suitable for me

My interaction with tutors is informative

I always feel free to seek help from NAMCOL tutors

Average

Strongly Disagree 9.4% 6.4% 5.4% 6.6% 6.1%

Disagree 26.5% 13.1% 14.2% 11.0%

12.7%

Agree 44.6% 55.8% 62.3% 47.6%

55.1%

Strongly Agree 19.5% 24.6% 18.1% 34.7% 26.1%

Total 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

100.0%

27

Generally NAMCOL tutors are readily available to learners. Learners find the forms of

communicating with tutors suitable, they find the interactions informative and they always feel free

to approach tutors seek help.

6.8 Reasons for dropping out It is interesting to note that 15% of the surveyed learners indicated that they considered dropping

out of their studies at NAMCOL at some point. As Table 11 shows, the reasons given for entertaining

such thinking were varied, although most of them were tutor-related. A lot of the tutor-related

causes strongly suggest the need for intensive induction of tutors in order to get them to understand

the needs of distance education learners, and to sympathise with such learners. Tutor absenteeism,

laxity in tutoring, ridiculing learners and using derogatory language are unfavourable forms of

behaviour that discourage instead of encourage learners. On the contrary, tutorial functions in

distance education should, amongst other things, serve to encourage and motivate learners.

Table 11: Common reasons for contemplating dropping out

Category Reason for contemplating dropping out

Tutor related No enough tutors,

At times they are not serious

Tutors are not teaching well

Discouraged by tutors comparing us with full time students

Tutor not teaching but enjoying stories

Tutors are absent at times

Bored by taking taxis to the centre then tutors do not turn up

I wrote my assignments well but was not given the marks I expected

I do not understand anything the teacher insults us

Personal problems No enough time to study

Wanted to go and look for a job

Distance I walk long distances

I stay far from the centre

I travel long distances only to find no tutors

Expense Taxi money too much

My father did not pay my examination fees

Asked about their average class attendance, 23.6% of the surveyed learners confessed that their

attendance was low - very low, 26.4% indicated that their attendance was satisfactory and 50%

responded that their attendance was high - very high. This trend shows that there are problems

regarding attendance for tutorials. This area needs further interrogation in order to unearth the

underlying problems with a view to addressing them.

Staff were asked to rate learners’ attendance for classes on a scale ranging from “very low” to “very

high” rating.

28

Table 12: Staff rating of class attendance by learners

Rating of class attendance Staff responses as a %

High 11

Satisfactory 53

Low 32

Very low 5

Table 12 above shows that none of the staff rated class attendance very high. 37% of the staff rated

class attendance by learners negatively (low-very low).

Some of the reasons given by staff for poor class attendance by learners are shown in Table 13

below:

Table 13: Staff views on poor class attendance by learners

Central Region North Eastern Region Northern region Southern Region

Reasons for

poor

attendance

Some are working

Some learners are workers and do not get permission,

Learners lack motivation

Learners are not motivated working condition

Most of the learners stay far from the centre

Some learners stay far from town

Some learners are not

serious with school

Distance travelled by learners

Some learners move from town to town to search for job

Most students attending classes at other institutions e.g. computer classes.

Some learners are

working till late

Some learners are working and knock off late

Learners are not self-motivated , they lack focus and commitment to their school work

Some learners are parents hence they are busy with day to day domestic chores.

Some learners don’t have

money

laziness and no goals to achieve

Lack of motivation, absenteeism especially winter season

Location of centre not convenient

Some do not make it because of the weather

Unsuitable scheduled time for lessons

The study also elicited information from NAMCOL tutors on what support they need in order to

improve their support services to learners. Staff responses reveal that they need support in:

29

Making copies for me because not allowed to do so.

the provision of teaching aids (materials) like prepared posters, protractors and rulers

the provision of projectors or visual aids

providing videos of lessons presented

the provision of more support materials such as guidelines for practical sessions

Workshops and resources like internet

Accessing laboratory facilities The most common form of support needed by tutors relates to teaching resources. Tutors were also asked to indicate learner support services that need to be improved and those that need to be introduced because they currently don’t exist in their regions. This information is provided in table 12 below: Table 14: Tutors’ suggestions on services to be improved in regions Existing Support Services that Need to Improve New Support Services to be Introduced

Southern Region

More reading materials for learners

Textbooks as well as examination booklets

Encourage learners to come to classes

Information centre

Study groups, workshops

More regular communication with head office

Sms services to learners

Video materials like CD. DVD and Power Point

Central Region

internet cafe room

motivational speeches

video lessons

Practicals in agriculture for grade 12

Continue rewarding learners that do well.

More extra mural activities to keep them engaged and motivated

Additional classrooms to avoid clashes with day scholars

internet room services

North Eastern

Mock exams and English communication courses

Contact sessions in rural areas

Motivating learners to do assignments on time

Laboratories for experiments

Internet/ Computer assisted learning

Toll free number so that learners can always ask if they have questions

Access to library services and borrowing books

More books in the school library

Academic counselling and student guidance

Student counsellors for NAMCOL

Internet access

Student counsellors for NAMCOL

Full time classes for these learner because 98% of these learners are slow learners

Libraries

Northern Region

Provide motivational courses

Locate contact sessions in rural areas

Provide more teaching aids

More materials for learners

Provision of library facilities

Rewarding learners who do well

Introduce video tutorials and internet access

More training fo tutors

Provide lessons on CDs

30

6.9 Multi media NAMCOL has made significant investment in putting in place the necessary resources needed to

diversify its learner support services. Of significance to note in this regard are various multimedia

forms of learner support which include video clips and radio tutorials. Distance learners usually find

use of such support media exciting because of the human voice and movement associated with it. In

this study, we sought learners’ views on the benefits of video clips and radio tutorials offered by the

College. Table 11 below shows what learners think about these multi-media forms of support. The

table shows that nearly 47% of the respondents felt that learning video clips are not clear and 45%

didn’t think the video clips are informative enough. About 42% of the surveyed learners do not find

radio lessons useful for their studies, nearly 47% think that the radio lessons are not clear and hence

45% indicated that they do not listen to them often. The patterns reflected in Table 15 regarding

learners’ perceptions of video clips and radio lessons are in keeping with low levels of usage of these

services reported in Table 4 above.

Table 15: Learners’ Perceptions of Multi-Media Forms of Support

Learning Video clips are clear

Learning video clips are informative

I listen to radio tutorials often

I find radio tutorials useful for my studies

Radio tutorials are clear

Total

Strongly Disagree 20.8% 18.0% 18.7% 15.1% 20.8% 18.0%

Disagree 26.1% 27.0% 26.7% 27.3% 26.1% 26.7%

Agree 35.1% 42.0% 44.3% 40.8% 35.1% 40.4%

Strongly Agree 18.0% 13.0% 10.3% 16.8% 18.0% 14.8%

Total 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

Surveyed NAMCOL staff also ranked video and audio recorded information very low in terms of its

effectiveness in learning.

Review of learning video clips and radio tutorials appears to be necessary in order to ensure that

these forms of supporting learners are effective and meet learners’ expectations and needs. In order

to ensure that these multimedia forms of support target learner needs, it would be useful for the

revision of these multimedia forms of support to be informed by feedback from learners. An

important aspect of all support materials in distance learning, including multi-media is the need to

subject them to rigorous quality assurance processes. Such processes are indispensable as they

ensure that the materials are relevant, appropriately pitched, accurate and appealing to the learner.

6.10 Improving learner support at NAMCOL: The learner’s perspective A number of suggestions were made by surveyed learners on aspects of learner support services

that need to be improved. Learners suggest that whilst the learning materials provided by the

College are good, learning resources should be diversified (beyond study guides). In line with this

suggestion is the need to improve access to library resources. This is probably an aspect that

requires collaborative efforts with other educational institutions and/or government departments.

31

The advent of technology offers immense opportunities for exposing learners to high quality

electronic learning resources most of which are available as open education resources. Whilst the

limitations posed by limited access to internet and to computer infrastructure are acknowledged,

supporting learners through such OER is becoming popular in progressive open learning systems

internationally. It is also noteworthy that even in developing contexts like Namibia, technology

penetration into low income communities is on the increase. Also, learners do not always need to

have access to technology in order to use OER as a lot of the materials are print friendly. However,

where such resources are used they tend to yield better results where they are innovatively

integrated in the design of courses.

A good number of respondents also suggested examination question booklets as an important way

of supporting learners with mastering examination skills. Regular practice in answering typical

examination questions, with the support of tutors and other peers goes a long way in equipping

learners with appropriate examination skills.

As highlighted above, learners feel that there is a lot that has to be done in order to improve the

services offered by NAMCOL tutors. Thus, a number of suggestions were made by learners regarding

this aspect. The suggestions include providing more tutors, improving commitment by tutors,

improving tutor attendance and tutor effectiveness in supporting learners. A strong and effective

tutorial team is important at NAMCOL, especially given how learners ranked the importance of this

tutorial service in terms of its accessibility and how useful they find it for their learning purposes.

Other suggestions made by learners like extending tutorial times, employing full-time tutors and

providing NAMCOL learners with uniform don’t appear to be economically viable for an ODL

institution and merely reflect the extent to which NAMCOL learners still perceive distance learning

as conventional face-to-face schooling. Unless this perception changes, learners may not be able to

take full responsibility of their learning.

6.11 The plight of physically challenged learners This study also tried to establish whether there are any learners at NAMCOL who are physically challenged, and if sufficient support services are provided for them. Of the 674 learners used in the sample, 6.2% indicated that they were physically challenged whilst 6.8% of the respondents indicated that they knew of a learner who was physically challenged. The most common physical problems mentioned are visual and hearing impairment. Some learners reported that they can’t walk and so they use wheelchairs. One indicated that he/she was born without four fingers on the left arm whilst another respondent indicated that he/she has no arm. One learner reported that she/he knows one NAMCOL learner who has Down syndrome. This is a naturally occurring chromosomal arrangement that has always been a part of the human condition. It is universally present across racial, gender and socioeconomic lines, and affects approximately 1 in 800 live births, although there is considerable variation worldwide. Down Syndrome usually causes varying degrees of intellectual and physical disability and associated medical issues. The most important thing in handling children with Down Syndrome is to avoid perpetuating any myths about the condition. In educational institutions, there is need for educating peer learners accordingly. Literature shows that

32

with the right support, children with Down Syndrome learn to walk and talk, and many are now attending mainstream schools, passing examinations and living full, semi-independent adult lives.25 One of the learners responded that she/he suffers from extreme fatness. This condition, commonly leads to obesity which has negative effects on one’s health. Obesity is most commonly caused by a combination of excessive food energy intake, lack of physical activity, and genetic susceptibility. Endocrine disorders and psychiatric illness are also known to be possible causes for obesity. Figure 7 below shows the percentage distribution of physically challenged learners by NAMCOL regions

Learners suggest a number of support services that should be availed to learners who are physically challenged. Generally, learners propose more efficient services that are targeted at this group of disadvantaged learners. A good number of respondents suggested that as much as possible, learners with disabilities should be provided with enough resources to allow them to do most of their studies from home, with more intensive interactions through telephones, SMS, emails and tutor visits, where possible. They also suggest more use of video information and radio (or other recorded) tutorials. Most importantly, some respondents recommended that NAMCOL should put in place a system that enables regular medical check-up of these disadvantaged learners to ensure arrest of possible deterioration of their conditions. Such medical attention will make a significant difference in the future lives of most of the physically challenged learners as some conditions are likely to improve over time. Over and above regular medical check-up, systematic counselling services should be availed to all such learners.

7. Recommendations Based on the findings above, this study makes a number of recommendations on the improvement

of learner support services at NAMCOL.

25

Down Syndrome International (n.d.) Improving life for people with Down syndrome: What to say (and What

not to say) http://www.ds-int.org/files/Down_syndrome_What_to_say_What_not_to_say.pdf Accessed

24/09/2014

33

7.1 Creating greater awareness of support services available The study showed that whilst the majority of students across the four NAMCOL Regions are aware of

such services as study guides/course books, written comments in tutor-marked assignments and

face-to-face tutorials, there are a number of essential services that are at their disposal which they

are not aware of. Such services include telephone communications with Area Coordinators, NOLNET

centres, Email, internet and the NAMCOL website. It is also evident that most of the learners are not

aware of the toll-free facility the College put in place.

The first recommendation made is that NAMCOL should have a strategy for creating greater

awareness of all the services it offers. The strategy should be at regional level and should not be a

once-off event in the year. As much as possible, there should be ongoing efforts at familiarising both

learners and tutors on the services that are available. This study also proposes a multi-pronged

approach in communicating relevant information to learners.

7.2 Improving usage of available services The second recommendation is that NAMCOL should find ways of encouraging learners to

maximally exploit existing learner support services in order to maximise learning gains. This

particularly applies to technology-supported and multi-media services like internet, websites, email,

toll-free facility, video recorded information and radio tutorials. Strategies should also be put in

place to in order to increase use of NOLNET centres.

Both Table 6 and Figure 2 show a strong correlation between service awareness and usage levels.

Thus, one way of improving service usage is to increase student awareness of the existence of such

services. The other way is to improve the quality and relevance of such services so that they become

attractive to learners. A third recommendation made is related to the preceding recommendation

above and is that where multi -media information is provided, it should be subjected to stringent

quality assurance measures to ensure that it is relevant, it is of high quality and is most appealing to

distance learners. To encourage learners to use radio lessons, for instance, the College could invite

regular feedback from learners on the content and how it is presented, and both content and design

of these tutorials can be revised in light of such feedback. Also, radio tutorials can be reviewed for

pedagogical appropriateness by experts.

It would appear form the study that some services are more used in some regions than in others.

Table 5 shows variations of service use across regions. As highlighted in the report, statistical

analysis of data revealed that there are significant differences between regions in terms of use of

such services as orientation workshops, academic counselling, and telephone contacts with tutors

and with heads of tutorial centres, access to library centres and internet access. These differences

suggest the need for differentiated strategies in order to improve services where they are lowest.

7.3 Improving usefulness of services Table 8 of this report shows that there are services learners don’t consider useful for their studies.

Some of these services include NOLNet centres, computer assisted learning, toll free line, email and

telephone contact with Area Coordinators. The fourth recommendation is that there is need to look

into some of these services in order to see how they can be made more relevant to learners’ needs.

34

Aligning such services with learner needs and making them more easily accessible will go a long way

in increasing their perceived importance and therefore use by learners.

7.4 Making all services accessible NAMCOL is commended for having a wide range of learner support services in order to cater for the

different types of learners it enrols. This study revealed that generally, most of these services are

accessible to learners, including those in typical rural tutorial centres (see Table 9). It also revealed

that those services that are most accessible are the ones that are most used by learners. Figure 3 of

this report shows the ten services that are most accessible and Table 9 shows that none of the 39

services that were investigated in this study has an accessibility rate of less 50%. The fifth

recommendation made here is that effort should continue to be made to increase accessibility of

support services to learner. Particular attention should be given to those services that have

accessibility rates of less than 60% (see Table 9).

7.5 Diversifying learning materials Both learners and NAMCOL tutors indicated the need to provide more learning materials, over and

above course materials currently provided to learners. The sixth recommendation is that greater

use should be made of electronic resources for learning, particularly open education resources.

Contrary to the call by learners to provide physical resources in libraries across the country, this

study suggests that more investment should be made in developing an electronic resource base

which can be accessed by both learners and staff. Such resources can be accessed by learners,

downloaded onto external devices like flash drives or CDs and printed as needed by learners. There

is a global trend towards providing students with digital courseware in ODL institutions. A typical

example of technology used to supply electronic resources to learners is Freedom Toaster from

Breadbin Interactive. The Freedom Toaster is an innovative content delivery kiosk that allows users

to choose and burn relevant content onto CDs, DVDs or USB flash drives using an easy touch screen

interface. It makes use of a customised open source operating system that allows the kiosks to burn

multiple disks at once. If such Breadbin Toasters are installed at regional offices, learners can

download materials to augment study guides they currently use. Alternatively, regional offices can

devise ways of downloading the materials, printing them and distributing them to learners. Breadbin

Toasters can be ordered from Breadbin Interactive- http://breadbin.co.za/contact-2/ .

It however needs to be cautioned that where such innovations are newly introduced, careful costing

needs to be done, possibly based pilot trials.

Another way of providing resources to learners is to make extensive use a Learning Management

System (LMS) like Moodle. Such a system allows uploading electronic resources for learners to use in

electronic form or download for printing. NAMCOL has Moodle already and should make more

effective use of this platform for the benefit of learners.

7.6 Improving tutorial services One of the most important learner support services at NAMCOL is the regular face-to-face tutorial

service offered to learners. Part-time tutors recruited from teachers in conventional schools form

the hallmark of this tutorial service. Their familiarity with ODL pedagogy, commitment and

professional integrity are important factors that determine the quality of the tutorial services of the

35

College. Whilst learners acknowledged that tutors are easily accessible and that learner-tutor

interactions are highly beneficial, they also pointed out a lot of tutor shortcomings that need to be

corrected in order to keep this service up to standard. Such shortcomings are highlighted in Table 11

of this report. Accordingly, the seventh recommendation is precisely on addressing such tutor-

related shortcomings. A suite of mitigating measures is proposed in this study, and this includes:

regular induction of tutors on ODL pedagogy,

empowering tutors to offer first level counselling to learners, particularly academic

counselling (study techniques, time management, reading and writing skills etc.)

effective monitoring of tutors to ensure attendance and punctuality for tutorial classes

monitoring of marking of assignments to ensure effective teaching feedback is given to

learners and timely

constant appraisal of tutors to ensure full commitment to NAMCOL learners. This can be

accompanied by a rewarding system for best performing tutors (eg. best performing award

of the year)

improving professional handling of distance learners by tutors (avoiding ridiculing distance

education learners, avoiding derogatory language when dealing with the learners,

comparing distance learners to face-to-face learners etc.).

7.7 Improving services for physically-challenged learners NAMCOL has done a lot to try and accommodate learners with physical challenges on its

programmes. Examples are use of brail for blind learners and building of rumps at some of the

College’s facilities to accommodate wheel- chaired learners. The eighth recommendation is that

more should be done to make the College more inclusive of learners with more physical challenges,

especially in regions where such learners currently exist. Although Figure7 of this report sheds light

on regions where such learners are located, there is need for further investigating this aspect in

order to verify regional trends reflected in Figure 7. This is mainly because of the lack of clarity

identified in some of the learners’ responses to questions relating to the aspect of physical disability,

especially in so far as the definition of physical disability is concerned,

7.8 Understanding responsibilities of independent learning Some of the responses from learners called for more tutorial hours, more tutors, full-time tutors,

having NAMCOL classrooms, insisting on uniform and providing hostels for all NAMCOL learners.

Such responses reflect lack of appreciation of the nature of ODL and the responsibilities that learners

have to take in terms of their learning. If the College was to run such a parallel system similar to the

conventional school system, the cost of service provision would be prohibitively high. Learners need

to understand this fact. The ninth recommendation therefore is that NAMCOL should make learners

understand that they are open and distance learners different from the conventional school

learners, and that they need to take full responsibility of their learning which is largely independent

learning. Face-to-face tutorials and consultations with tutors are only a small component of their

learning processes.

36

In the past, conceptions of how learning programmes were delivered tended to be restricted to the

continuum of face-to-face contact programmes to paper-based distance education. With the advent

of technology, there is a wide range of possibilities that falls within this continuum. This however has

increased confusion on the distinction between distance education, blended learning and face-to-

face learning. NAMCOL learners are not the only people caught up in this perceptual web of

confusion, indeed higher education institutions grapple with this problem, especially where the

mode of provision determines the level of public funding.

The notion of different types of educational provision is illustrated on the continuum below which

can be used to describe a range of educational practices, on which educational provision can be

located based on its mix of methods of provision. The greater the use of educational methods that

assume temporal and/or spatial separation between learners and educators, the more education

will tend towards the distance education pole of the continuum. The more direct contact between

educators and learners, the more it will tend to the contact or campus-based pole26.

Campus-based Remote

As noted, the mode of education provision is typically viewed on a continuum from purely face-to-face tuition through to education purely at a distance, the latter traditionally conceptualised as correspondence tuition with no face-to-face interaction between teachers and learners. However, there is now more resource-based (independent) learning in f2f programmes, and more f2f interaction in distance. With the increasing use of supporting educational technologies there is likely to be rapid movement to the centre. Figure 8 below shows the continuum between face-to-face on campus provision and off-campus distance provision. In between these poles lies a variety of options. Fig 8: Distance or face-to-face

Sometimes, certain strategically placed points on this continuum are given labels, for example,

'mixed mode'. A mixed mode curriculum is communicated through a blend of distance education

methods (such as self-instructional materials provided in print or online) and face- to face methods

(the face- to- face component may be offered on the central campus or at a centre away from the

main institutional campus). Mixed mode may be implemented equally successfully for both off

campus students (who cannot attend classes full-time) and for on campus students who do attend

classes but who also receive part of their tuition/learning support through a range of more flexible

means such as accessing web-based materials or tutorials conducted online.

26

Council on Higher Education ( 2004) Enhancing the Contribution of Distance Higher Education in South

Africa, Pretoria: CHE

37

Understanding the mode of delivery for the College and the location on the continuum in Figure 8

above will help learners distinguish themselves from the conventional school learners, and therefore

avoid having unrealistic expectations of the College. At the same time, it will also enable them to

understand that as distance education learners, they should engage in independent learning for

most of their learning time.

7.9 Recommended model

Recommendations on improving learners support services at NAMCOL have been given above. It is

however worthwhile concluding the recommendations section by focusing more on the universal

model that the College should push for in order to position itself more strategically within an

evolving ODL environment. It is evident in paragraph 2 on literature review that internationally, ODL

institutions offer a wide range of learner support services mainly in order to meet the diverse needs

of their learners. Whilst the services are open to all learners enrolled by an institution, some of them

are targeted at particular groups of learners more than others, hence the notion of targeting

individuals as well as groups through a suit of multiple services. This notion is already incipient at

NAMCOL as testified by the wide range of learner support services that were investigated in this

study. The tenth and final recommendation is that whilst this study endorses that model, it strongly

suggests moving faster towards technology-supported services, firstly because this is the general

trend internationally and secondly because of the fast penetration of technology into communities

in the sub- Saharan African region, and the potential for the cost of both broadband and hardware

to go down in the near future. The future of knowledge generation and dissemination lies in new

information and communication technologies. Harnessing the affordances of the available

technology (like cell phones, the radio and internet) will go a long way in enhancing the quality of

provision in the College.

Strengthening technology-supported services entails doing extensive advocacy at regional level in

order to not only create awareness amongst learners, but also to bring about change in attitudes

and practice on the part of tutors and learners. This is a huge challenge that requires a change

management strategy but once it is in place, the benefits will be immense. It needs to be pointed

out that in forging ahead with this model, other forms of support currently on offer should not be

dropped.

38

8. References Alaneme, G. C. & Olayiwola, P. O. (n.d.) Appraising the Organisation and Management of Learner

Support Services in Distance Learning (unpublished paper)

Anderson, T. (2004) Teaching in an online learning context. In Anderson, T. & Elloumi, F. (eds.) Theory and Practice of Online Learning, pp. 273-294, Athabasca University, Athabasca. Brindley, J.E., Ossietzky C., and Paul, P. H. (2003) The Role of Learner Support in Institutional

Transformation – A Case Study in the Making, University of Oldenburg and University of Windsor

(unpublished paper)

Brindley, J. (2004) Handbook B6: Research Tutoring and Learner Support, COL, Vancouver

Down Syndrome International (n.d.) Improving life for people with Down syndrome: What to say (and what not to say) http://www.ds-int.org/files/Down_syndrome_What_to_say_What_not_to_say.pdf

Accessed 24/09/2014

Kishore, S. (1998) Student Support and Quality Indicators in Distance Learning, Indian Journal of

Open Learning, 7(2), pp. 205-212.

Moore, M. (1997) "Theory of transactional distance." In Keegan, D. (ed.) Theoretical Principles of Distance Education, Routledge, pp. 22-38.

Robinson, B. (1995). Research and Pragmatism in Learner Support. In Lockwood, F (ed.) Open and

Distance Learning Today, Studies in Distance Education, London, Routledge.

Simpson, O. (2002) Supporting students in online, open and distance learning (2nd edition), London:

Kogan Page

Suber P. (2012) Open Access: The MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series Edition.). Cambridge, Massachusttes. MIT Press. ISBN 9780262517638.

Sweet, R. (1993) ‘Student support services: direction for change’. In R. Sweet (ed.) Perspectives on

distance education series: student support series: towards more responsive systems, Vancouver:

Commonwealth of Learning

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