Increasing Access to Higher Education Through Open and Distance Learning: Empirical Findings From Mzuzu University, Malawi

Slowly but surely, open and distance learning (ODL) programmes are being regarded as one of the most practical ways that universities across the world are increasingly adopting in order to increase access to university education. Likewise, Mzuzu University (MZUNI) set up the Centre for Open and Di...

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Autores principales:	Winner Dominic Chawinga, Paxton Andrew Zozie
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Athabasca University Press 2016
Materias:	higher education Malawi Mzuzu University open and distance learning students Special aspects of education LC8-6691
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/8363066fc6d549ed97c617383568b9b0
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:8363066fc6d549ed97c617383568b9b02021-12-02T16:59:54ZIncreasing Access to Higher Education Through Open and Distance Learning: Empirical Findings From Mzuzu University, Malawi10.19173/irrodl.v17i4.24091492-3831https://doaj.org/article/8363066fc6d549ed97c617383568b9b02016-07-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/2409https://doaj.org/toc/1492-3831 Slowly but surely, open and distance learning (ODL) programmes are being regarded as one of the most practical ways that universities across the world are increasingly adopting in order to increase access to university education. Likewise, Mzuzu University (MZUNI) set up the Centre for Open and Distance Learning (CODL) to oversee the running of these programmes in 2011. In this study, we adopted the Transactional Distance Theory (Moore, 1997) to investigate the modes of instructional systems, benefits or opportunities, and the challenges associated with the delivery of ODL programmes at MZUNI. By self-administering a questionnaire to 350 ODL students and 9 Heads of Department in the Faculty of Education whose programmes are offered through ODL, we found that instructions are mostly delivered to students through print-based instructional materials. The major benefits noted include increased access to quality higher education, affordable tuition fees, and flexibility in payment of fees. However, we established some challenges which need to be addressed by the University which include, delayed feedback of assignments and release of end of semester examination results, absence of information for courses of study, poor communication between the Centre and departments, and poor remuneration for lecturers. Winner Dominic ChawingaPaxton Andrew ZozieAthabasca University Pressarticlehigher educationMalawiMzuzu Universityopen and distance learningstudentsSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691ENInternational Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, Vol 17, Iss 4 (2016)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	higher education Malawi Mzuzu University open and distance learning students Special aspects of education LC8-6691
spellingShingle	higher education Malawi Mzuzu University open and distance learning students Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Winner Dominic Chawinga Paxton Andrew Zozie Increasing Access to Higher Education Through Open and Distance Learning: Empirical Findings From Mzuzu University, Malawi
description	Slowly but surely, open and distance learning (ODL) programmes are being regarded as one of the most practical ways that universities across the world are increasingly adopting in order to increase access to university education. Likewise, Mzuzu University (MZUNI) set up the Centre for Open and Distance Learning (CODL) to oversee the running of these programmes in 2011. In this study, we adopted the Transactional Distance Theory (Moore, 1997) to investigate the modes of instructional systems, benefits or opportunities, and the challenges associated with the delivery of ODL programmes at MZUNI. By self-administering a questionnaire to 350 ODL students and 9 Heads of Department in the Faculty of Education whose programmes are offered through ODL, we found that instructions are mostly delivered to students through print-based instructional materials. The major benefits noted include increased access to quality higher education, affordable tuition fees, and flexibility in payment of fees. However, we established some challenges which need to be addressed by the University which include, delayed feedback of assignments and release of end of semester examination results, absence of information for courses of study, poor communication between the Centre and departments, and poor remuneration for lecturers.
format	article
author	Winner Dominic Chawinga Paxton Andrew Zozie
author_facet	Winner Dominic Chawinga Paxton Andrew Zozie
author_sort	Winner Dominic Chawinga
title	Increasing Access to Higher Education Through Open and Distance Learning: Empirical Findings From Mzuzu University, Malawi
title_short	Increasing Access to Higher Education Through Open and Distance Learning: Empirical Findings From Mzuzu University, Malawi
title_full	Increasing Access to Higher Education Through Open and Distance Learning: Empirical Findings From Mzuzu University, Malawi
title_fullStr	Increasing Access to Higher Education Through Open and Distance Learning: Empirical Findings From Mzuzu University, Malawi
title_full_unstemmed	Increasing Access to Higher Education Through Open and Distance Learning: Empirical Findings From Mzuzu University, Malawi
title_sort	increasing access to higher education through open and distance learning: empirical findings from mzuzu university, malawi
publisher	Athabasca University Press
publishDate	2016
url	https://doaj.org/article/8363066fc6d549ed97c617383568b9b0
work_keys_str_mv	AT winnerdominicchawinga increasingaccesstohighereducationthroughopenanddistancelearningempiricalfindingsfrommzuzuuniversitymalawi AT paxtonandrewzozie increasingaccesstohighereducationthroughopenanddistancelearningempiricalfindingsfrommzuzuuniversitymalawi
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Increasing Access to Higher Education Through Open and Distance Learning: Empirical Findings From Mzuzu University, Malawi

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