Promoting quality in distance education programmes in Africa

1
Promoting quality in distance education
programmes in Africa

• Gbolagade Adekanmbi
• University of Botswana

2
Presentation overview

• Introduction
• The case for quantity in Africa
• The case for quality
• Models and quality
• Support services and quality
• Course development and quality
• Collaborating for quality
• Concluding comments

3
Introduction

• Cluster of factors for accepting distance
  education
• Innovation and humanitarian concerns as early
  motivations
• Unsatisfied demands and pecuniary benefits as
  later motivations
• Initial rejections
• A growing call for quality of provisions
• The responses
• The NADEOSA response
• ICDE response
• UK quality assurance
• Australian response
• The focus of the paper
• The three strands in the discourse

4
Quantity issues in distance education

• Literacy and the bleak picture
• Enrolment ratios in secondary and vocational
  institutions
• Demand for foreign degrees
• The issue of student mobility
• Comparisons across the globe
• The case for massification of education

5
The case for quality

• Can quantity reduce quality?
• Students as customer and product
• Perrys criteria for quality
• Calverts criteria for quality
• Bogue and Hall (2003)

6
Models of organisation and course material

• Organisational Models
• Autonomous/
• single mode
• Mixed/Dual/
• integrated
• Open University/
• single
• Consortium model
• Virtual model

• Models of course modules
• Study guides
• Wrap around modules
• Self contained modules

7
Support service and quality

• A well established student-focused support
  service structure
• Existence of networks of collaboration with
  national institutions
• Links with networks of resources and resource
  centres
• Links with distance learners within and outside
  national boundaries
• Creation of a database of resources and peers
• Links with counselling centres, and opportunities
  for psycho-social support
• Links with learners, and tutors involved in
  similar programmes
• Links between tutors and tutors to facilitate
  exchange of information
• Adequate understanding of programme and
  organisational goals and mission
• Viable training programmes for all those involved
  with support service provision
• Establishment of study groups
• Encouragement of feedback from learners
• Clear arrangements for registration, examinations
  and graduation

8
Course development and quality

• Quality as a factor of the printed materials
  being used, the teaching techniques and the
  administrative functions (Scriven 1991)
• Materials are expected to be easy to read, have a
  clear statement of objectives, reflect clear and
  unambiguous language and among others be free of
  typographical errors. Training of course
  writers in curriculum development and methods of
  distance education
• Ensuring effectiveness of contracts entered into
  with writers and editors
• ensuring meeting of deadlines regarding
  manuscript submission
• Promotion of adequate training plans
• Promotion of a strong research base
• Pre-testing of materials

9
Models of collaboration
10
International agencies, collaboration and
capacity building

• Collaboration in distance education is generally
  by direct consultancy, by association, and
  through intergovernmental activities
• For sponsorship/promotion of best practice-
  International Extension College, British Council,
  Commonwealth of Learning(COL), USAID, German
  Foundation for International development
• For advocacy, conferences and training-
  Associations such as the International Council
  for Open and Distance Education, DEASA, NADEOSA,
  CADE, WADEA, EDEN
• For documentation, material development and
  research- ICDL, ZIFF, COL

11
Principles guiding best practice

• Distance education must be properly planned and
  implemented
• It must choose a viable model
• It must obtain the support of its immediate
  publics
• An efficient organisational structure must exist
  to co-ordinate programmes
• It must have a degree of autonomy in its running
• The planning of teaching must be based on a
  two-way communication system
• It must have an internal self sustaining
  mechanism
• It must establish links with other related
  organisations
• A parity of esteem must be established with the
  conventional system
• Its immediate environment must benefit from its
  products

12
Some closing comments .

• Establishment of the African Council for Distance
  Education
• NADEOSA Code of Ethics
• Quality criteria publication by NADEOSA
• International Computer Drivers License
• Collaborative audit of programmes
• Toll free lines
• Mainstreaming documents
• Development of policy documents