Towards Achieving Quality in Distance Higher Education Teaching and Learning: Experiences from Zimbabwe

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue I, January 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186

Towards Achieving Quality in Distance Higher Education Teaching and Learning: Experiences from Zimbabwe

George N. Shava, Siphumuzile Hleza, Mlisa Jasper Ndlovu*, Paradzai P. Makokoro, Faith Tlou
National University of Science and Technology, Zimbabwe
*Corresponding author

Abstract
Zimbabwe has managed to respond to the movement in support of UNESCO’s lifelong learning concept and strategy that seeks to widen and deepen access to higher education through distance education initiatives. Despite the significant increase in students enrolling in distance education institutions, the gold standard of excellence that is sought by many nations has gradually been compromised. There are symptoms of a downward trend in terms of quality in open distance learning institutions. The qualitative study analysed major factors affecting the provision of quality distance higher education with specific reference to the Zimbabwe Open University, the sole provider of university distance education in Zimbabwe. The study focused on three Zimbabwe Open University regional centres in Zimbabwe. The paper seeks to identify major factors contributing to the declining quality of distance education and discusses measures that distance education providers in Zimbabwe can undertake in order to promote excellence for effective learning in the 21st century. The study established that several factors are affecting the quality of distance education in Zimbabwe. The lack of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) facilities at regional and district centres was a major hindrance to effective teaching and learning.

Key words: distance education, higher education, quality education, teaching and learning;
Zimbabwe Open University

Introduction and background

The purpose of the study was to examine major challenges facing distance education institutions in Zimbabwe in their effort to provide quality education. The philosophy of distance education is based on learner’s independence theory, with the least necessary face-to-face interaction with the teacher, and the largest possible amount of individual learning materials, specially produced to simplify learning without contact with the teacher. These include a high degree of quality that is sent using media which permits both individual and group learning with as many learners as possible (Lassoued, Alhendawi & Bashitialshaaer 2020).
Zimbabwe like many other developing countries was affected by (Rikers 2006) the movement in support of UNESCO’s lifelong learning concept and this resulted in the establishment of the Zimbabwe Open University (Corry 2008). Distance education is defined by Holmberg (1977 in Lassoued, Alhendawi & Bashitialshaaer 2020) as “a term that includes all methods of study and all levels of education that do not enjoy direct and continuous supervision by teachers attend with their students in traditional classrooms, but the education process is subject to planning, organization, and directed by an educational institution and teachers”. Thus, the learner and the teacher are separated, but feedback occurs periodically. It is a system of teaching and learning which complements, where the conventional teaching and learning in which the teacher and the learner are mostly physically separated while communicating through printed materials, is replaced or supplemented.

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