The relationship between perceived quality dimensions and growth in distance education: The case of external degree programme of the University of Nairobi,Kenya.

Abstract

As distance education (DE) is now accepted as a legitimate form of education and as universities and colleges attempt to meet the growing demand for courses and programmes by learners, one major concern has been the aspect of quality. This study sought to determine the influence of quality dimensions on the growth of Distance Education Programme. The Bachelor of Education degree programme offered by distance learning at the University of Nairobi was used as the unit of analysis. To achieve this goal, the study had the following objectives: to determine the relationship between tangibles dimension of the distance education degree programme and growth in Distance Education Programme; to assess the relationship between reliability of the distance education degree programme and the programme’s growth pattern; to determine the relationship between responsiveness of the distance education degree programme and growth of the programme; to determine the relationship between assurance of the distance education degree programme and growth of the programme; to examine the relationship between empathy and the programme’s growth and to determine the influence of moderating variables on the growth pattern of the programme. To achieve these objectives, the study targeted students registered for the Bachelor of Education (Arts) degree at the University of Nairobi in their 2nd and 3rd years of study. Also targeted for the study was staff involved in the provision of the programme. The staff included were lecturers (tutors) and resident lecturers (located at the regional centres). The students were first stratified on the basis of their study centres and then by sex. Systematic sampling was then used to select a sample of 327 student respondents. Purposive sampling was also used to select the staff. A response rate of 92.4 percent was achieved for students and 100% for staff. The techniques of data analysis used were the measures of descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. These were Chisquare test, Mann – Whitney U test and Pearson’s correlation analysis. The findings revealed that the programme’s responsiveness is significant at the 95% confidence level followed by programme reliability. The findings further indicated that there was a weak relationship between all the quality dimensions and the growth pattern measures of the number of students registered into the programme, the number of resident lecturers employed and the number of regional centres that have been established. In addition the study found that there was a positive and strong relationship between growth trends and the external environmental factors. The study provides a number of recommendations. First, managers of a DE programme and quality regulatory bodies should know that DE programmes can grow in spite of learners’ negative perception of its quality. Secondly, the middle level managers of DE programmmes should consider the willingness of the top management to pursue a growth strategy and the market needs in formulating a growth strategy. Third, the managers of DE programmes should ensure efficient support services such as prompt marking of assignments, good teaching/learning methods, caring and individualized attention to learners, constructive feedback on assignments and affordable cost. These are key factors that determine satisfaction among distance learners. Finally, the managers of DE programmes should make improvements in out-of-class communication with tutors, currency of study materials, and availability of study materials as these were found to fail in meeting stakeholder expectations. The study also recommends that further research be conducted to correlate actual quality dimensions and perceived quality dimension since the two may be at variance. It is further recommended that a study be carried out to determine the effectiveness of the various quality dimension indicators