Evaluating Quality of Students’ Support Services in Open Distance Learning

Nsamba, Asteria; Makoe, Mpine

doi:10.17718/tojde.340391

Cited by 27 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…For example, technology support, counseling and mental health services, academic success centers, and other resources should be made available both on-campus and online to support students no matter their mode of education. In relation to the evaluation of available support services, Nsamba and Makoe (2017) argue for the need to evaluate the quality of support services through the lens of the user. Historically, these services have been evaluated through the institutional lens, which does not lend itself feedback from students (Nsamba & Makoe, 2017).…”

Section: Themes and Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Online, Hybrid, and Face-to-Face Learning Through the Eyes of Faculty, Students, Administrators, and Instructional Designers: Lessons Learned and Directions for the Post-Vaccine and Post-Pandemic/COVID-19 World

Singh

Evans

Reed

et al. 2021

Journal of Educational Technology Systems

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This exploratory study builds upon the expertise of a panel of faculty, administrators, students, and instructional designers (IDs) who lived through the pandemic and dealt with the associated challenges firsthand. These participants provided insight on how to establish systems that would create successful online teaching and learning opportunities in the post-vaccine and post-pandemic world. Four major themes emerged: (a) integrating technology to facilitate and enhance education; (b) structural support and resources needed to build sound processes for effective online education; (c) establishing faculty presence to facilitate learning; and (d) joint ownership and responsibility of learning—everyone must play a part. These themes have been described in light of theoretical frameworks, such as the Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) model, Community of Inquiry (COI), and Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI). Finally, evidence-based tips will allow academic institutions to successfully emerge out of the pandemic while still making plans to adjust and adapt in the post-vaccine world.

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Section: Themes and Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Online, Hybrid, and Face-to-Face Learning Through the Eyes of Faculty, Students, Administrators, and Instructional Designers: Lessons Learned and Directions for the Post-Vaccine and Post-Pandemic/COVID-19 World

Singh

Evans

Reed

et al. 2021

Journal of Educational Technology Systems

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“…The researchers noted that the students' ratings above do add to the board of knowledge on the service quality dimensions (Nsamba and Makoe, 2017):…”

Section: Qualitative Data Findings and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By also borrowing ideas from the work of Nsamba and Makoe (2017) who have evaluated the quality of students' support services in ODL at Unisa, South Africa, this study attempted to qualitatively evaluate the quality of orientation by analyzing the content in the positive and negative responses to the open ended statement: "Provide your own personal evaluation of the orientation. Offer any suggestions for improvement".…”

Section: Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The quality of orientation in ODL

Chirume

Dick

2019

AAOUJ

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the consistency with which quality is maintained in the orientation process. Orientation is a key university process intended to prepare new students for life in higher education (HE). For open and distance learning (ODL), orientation can be a key process for lessening some of the challenges associated with the separation of the learner and the lecturer. Indeed, for ODL students, orientation can be fraught with a variety of challenges one of which could be quality problems.Design/methodology/approachConvenient sampling was used to obtain a total of 89 students in the first semester and 34 students in the second semester. The respondents came from all the eight districts in the Midlands province of Zimbabwe. They belonged to various degree programmes found in the eight faculties of the institution. Correlation was used to determine quality variations. Using a mixed methods approach, the study sought the views of the students and the relationships between activities done in the two semesters of 2018. SPSS version 16.0 software was used to compute Spearman’s correlations whereas content analysis was used to analyze the open-ended responses to the questa-view. This mixed methods approach helped the researchers to analyze and compare the quality of the orientation sessions.FindingsResults yielded a positive and high significant correlation between first and second semester variables (r=0.916,p=0.000), a finding indicating that staff members in the Midlands Regional Campus of Zimbabwe Open University have not changed their ways of conducting orientation. On a scale of 1 (least effective) to 5 (most effective), the average ratings for the presentations in the first and second semesters were 4.08 and 4.26, respectively. In the qualitative analysis, adequacy of the venue, timing, coverage of aspects and use of media were all rated positively for the two sessions. However, for the two sessions, some students mentioned negative sentiments to do with the provision of needed materials at time of student registration, the public address system, orientation packages, time management and communication.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper looks at the process of orientation as it was done at one regional campus of an ODL institution in Zimbabwe. It also analyses the quality of the orientation using correlation as a lens that measures consistency and also by critically analyzing content in the respondents’ voices. Implications are that the findings and recommendations can also be applied in other ODL (and even non-ODL) institutions with a view of finally coming up with common policies and procedures with regards to providing quality service and support to the twenty-first century student.Practical implicationsFindings were relevant and could be used for designing applicable orientation programmes in ODL institutions and for improving the quality of student support and services.Originality/valueWhile a number of studies have been carried out on orientation in HE, it would appear that research on orientation in ODL institutions, especially in Zimbabwe, appears minimal, hence this study covers an unexplored niche.

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“…Nsamba and Makoe [8] recommended that service quality in distance education can be measured by six dimensions namely; tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, delivery, assurance and student participation. Each dimension can be measured by a number of attributes.…”

Section: Learners' Support Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the Quality of Blended BEd Programme: A Case of Bangladesh Open University

Yeasmin¹,

Rahman²,

Hossain³

2020

dtssehs

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Nowadays, quality assurance of basic degree of teacher education has become a great concern in general and of teacher education programme under blended mode in particular. The later leverages information and communication technology (ICT) for blending the modus operandi which provides more concerns about the quality. This paper addresses the quality of BEd programme of the School of Education (SOE) of Bangladesh Open University (BOU). The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality of BEd programme with regard to the internal efficiency of School of Education of BOU. This study was conducted by the The Institutional Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) in association of the BLTeae team and the survey was done on a random sample of 252 BEd students drawn from 11 Regional Centres (RCs) located throughout the country using the common instrument by the University Grant Commission (UGC) with some modification considering the delivery mode of the programme. Data was collected through a questionnaire with 5 point Likert-Scale which was validated through a pilot study. The results exposed that BEd programme was effective in terms of uplifting teachers' pedagogical knowledge and skills. Teachers responded favorably the quality of BEd curriculum, lesson planning and presentation by themselves and their teacher educators, and had some reservations about the appropriate use of video lectures for effective blended teaching learning processes.

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Evaluating Quality of Students’ Support Services in Open Distance Learning

Cited by 27 publications

References 17 publications

Online, Hybrid, and Face-to-Face Learning Through the Eyes of Faculty, Students, Administrators, and Instructional Designers: Lessons Learned and Directions for the Post-Vaccine and Post-Pandemic/COVID-19 World

Online, Hybrid, and Face-to-Face Learning Through the Eyes of Faculty, Students, Administrators, and Instructional Designers: Lessons Learned and Directions for the Post-Vaccine and Post-Pandemic/COVID-19 World

The quality of orientation in ODL

Evaluating the Quality of Blended BEd Programme: A Case of Bangladesh Open University

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