The factors influencing effective practices of distance education in dual mode universities: the Case of the University of Nairobi.

Abstract

This study aimed at finding out the factors influencing effective practices of distance education in dual mode universities mainly focusing the study at the University of Nairobi at the school of continuing and distance education. The demand for higher education having gone up tremendously has made it necessary for the education planners and managers to rethink of strategies of teaching. The solutions have been found in distance education and this an area that UON has used very well to attract more students and give a chance to those who missed out on the conventional system of education. The UON has been using distance education for a very long time but it is just the other day that the benefits of investing in distance have been realized. This is most likely because there have been systems that have been put in place so as to make the practices of distance to be effective. For the practices of distance education to become effective there has to be factors that come into play. Factors such as the proposed and the existing policies, the lCT policy, and the management of the established program all help in making it to be effective. "The study utilized the survey research design in which th<t~e~archer administered questionnaires to the students at the SCDE. Data was analyzed through descriptive statistics aided by the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). The findings were used to make recommendations on the factors influencing effective practices of distance education to be used by other faculties and departments within the university and also at other universities. Chapter four focused on the response rate, presentation of data, interpretation and discussions of research findings. Data was analyzed as per the study objectives and was then presented using tables only as it was more effective while discussions were made by use of frequencies (f) and percentages (%). The presentations were done based on the research objectives. Chapter five gave a summary of the findings, conclusions, and recommendations based on the findings of the study. The findings of this project report were that the factors influencing effective practices were the policies of distance education, the planning of distance education, the quality assurance in distance education and the lCT use in distance education. They were also closely related according to research findings. Recommendations were also made and these were on further research on policies and quality assurance and the use of Open Education Resources (OERs).