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The Practice of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) in Tanzania: Some Reflections on the Open University of Tanzania (OUT)
ODL Tower Building at the OUT Temporary Headquarters, Kawawa Road, Kinondoni Area, Dar es Salaam.
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Table of ContentsPart 1: The Genesis and Development of Distance Education in Tanzania
1.0 Introduction 1 – 31.1 The “Talking Drum” and Distance Education 3 – 5 1.2 Distance Education in Tanzania 5 – 71.2.1 Institute of Adult Education (IAE) 7– 91.2.2 The Tanzania Global Development Learning Centre
(TGDLC)9– 12
1.2.3 Moshi Co - operative University (MoCU) 12 – 161.2.4 Distance Education Association of Tanzania (DEATA) 16 – 181.2.5 INADES-Formation 18 – 211.2.6 Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) 21 – 221.2.7 University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) 22 – 231.2.8 Southern Africa Extension Unit (SAEU) 23 – 241.2.9 Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MoHSW) 24 – 251.2.10 The Open University of Tanzania (OUT) 25 – 35
1.3 Marks of Historicity 35 – 361.4 Summary and Conclusion 36 – 371.5 References 38 – 40
Part 2: Convergence of Distance Education and Conventional Learning: Innovations and Developments at the OUT
2.0 Introduction 41 – 412.1 Meaning of Blended Learning 42 – 432.2 Mainstreaming 43 – 47
2.3 ICTs and Delivery of Higher Education in Kenya 47 – 482.4 Innovations and Developments at the OUT 48 – 552.5 The Status of Internet Connectivity in Tanzania 56 – 592.6 Views on Convergence Between ODL and Conventional
Education59 – 60
2.7 Summary and Conclusion 61 – 612.8 References 62 – 66
Part 3: Quality Assurance in ODL Practice at the OUT: The Unfinished Business
3.0 Introduction 67 – 693.1 Concept of Quality 69 – 733.2 A Review of Existing Programmes 74 – 753.3 Existing Quality Assurance Mechanisms 75 – 813.4 The Need and Features of a Comprehensive Quality
Assurance Framework81 – 89
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3.5 Summary and Conclusion 89 – 90 3.6 References 91 – 93
List of AcronymsAVU: African Virtual University BRN: Big Results Now CEC: Cooperative Education CentreDEATA: Distance Education Association of TanzaniaDVC (LT & RS): Deputy Vice Chancellor (Learning Technologies & Regional Services) EFA: Education For All ETP: Education and Training PolicyIAE: Institute of Adult Education ICTs: Information and Communication TechnologiesIF: INADES-Formation IUCEA: Inter – University Council of Eastern AfricaMDGs: Millennium Development Goals MoCU: Moshi Co - operative UniversityMOOCs: Massive Open Online CoursesMP: Member of Parliament MUCCoBS: Moshi University College of Cooperative and Business StudiesNAAC: National Assessment and Accreditation Council NACTE: National Council for Technical Education NCI: National Correspondence InstitutionNFE: Non – Formal EducationNICTBB: National Information and Communication Technology Broadband BackboneNSGPR I & II: National Strategy for Growth and Poverty Reduction I & II ODEX: On Demand ExaminationODL: Open and Distance LearningOECD: Organization for Economic Cooperation and DevelopmentOERs: Open Educational Resources OERUs: Open Educational Resources’ Universities OUT: The Open University of TanzaniaOUTSO: The Open University of Tanzania Students’ Organisation
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PCE: Presidential Commission on Education PSRP: Public Service Reform ProgrammeQA: Quality AssuranceSADC: Southern Africa Development Community SAEU: South Africa Extension Unit SPA: Student Portifolio AssessmentSUA: Sokoine University of Agriculture TCU: Tanzania Commission for UniversitiesTGDLC: Tanzania Global Development Learning Centre UDSM: University of Dar es Salaam
UKOU: United Kingdom Open University
URT: United Republic of TanzaniaVETA: Vocational Education Training Authority
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List of Tables and Figures
List of TablesS/N Title Page
1 TGDLC Ongoing Courses 10 – 112 A Sample of Courses Offered by TAGLA 11 – 123 MUCCoBS Programmes 14 – 164 Variation Between Application and Registration Levels at
UDSM: 2002/03 – 2006/0722
5 Cumulative Enrolment in Non – Degree Programmes: 1996 – 2013/14
30
6 Cumulative Undergraduate Students’ Enrolment : 1994 – 2013/14
31
7 Cumulative Undergraduate Students’ Admission by Programme and Gender : 1996 – 2013/14
32 – 33
8 Cumulative Enrolment in Postgraduate Programmes: 2001 – 2013/14
33 – 35
9 The Number of Phone Subscribers in Tanzania 5610 A Comparison of Infographic Data – Kenya and Tanzania 5711 Institutional Status of Internal Quality Assurance 7612 Enrolment Rates in Primary, Secondary and Tertiary
Education - 80
List of FiguresMap 1: OUT Study/Coordinating Centres in Tanzania 29
1 Different Dimensions of Quality 702 Quality Assurance: An Object of Negotiation Between
Relevant Parties71
3 Actual Enrolment Distribution 794 Expected Enrolment Distribution 795 A Comparison of Actual and Expected Enrolment
Distribution80
6 Learning Process Model 837 Organizational Learning Cycle Model 84
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Part 1: The Genesis and Development of Distance Education in Tanzania
1.0 Introduction
Although Africa is widely believed to be the cradle of mankind, it is the
Middle East which is credited as the spring of human civilisation (Chambers’,
1973: 807). Among other elements of civilisation, current World dominant
religions i.e. Christianity and Islam were initially revealed in the Middle East,
before their underlying beliefs were transmitted to other parts. Besides religious
beliefs, another feature of civilisation, the art of reading and writing, was invented
in Mesopotamia in present day Iraq in about 3000 BC (Ibid). Incidentally, the basic
medium of communication in correspondence education, the precursor of distance
education, is writing. It is, therefore, logical to trace the genesis of distance
education to the Middle East in general and Iraq in particular. It has been observed
“. . . all the archaeological evidence available seems to prove that true writing
(based on signs representing sound), was first developed in Southern
Mesopotamia” (Hawkes & Woolley, 1963: 634).
Distance education is reputed as a very old approach to teaching and
learning. It began about 3000 BC with the invention of the art of writing in
Mesopotamia in present day Iraq. Its informal use in education and learning is
associated with the practice of writing letters in order to give information,
instruction or even directives to another person or group of people. For example,
from the period of the early Christian movement from about 60 AD (1st Century
AD), this art of communication was extensively used by people like Paul, Timothy,
John, Peter and others to educate followers in various churches and places. Islamic
traditions show that Prophet Mohamed employed a similar method in spreading his
teachings from the 7th Century AD (Dodds, 1991:7). In fact, according to religious
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beliefs, the genesis of the art of writing can be traced to divine inspiration as the
ten commandments and the Holy Quran were handed over to Moses and Prophet
Mohamed respectively, in a written form (Sheung-wai, 2002: 658). Initially,
distance education relied solely on the print medium (correspondence education),
in instructional delivery. However, in the course of time it has embraced usage of a
wider range of media including face to face contact, broadcast, recorded, telephone
and more recently Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). This is
the context within which it is popularly referred to as Open and Distance Learning
(ODL).
ODL is a philosophy about the purpose and ends of education and about the
best means of achieving that purpose. Open learning has the purpose of opening up
learning opportunities to a wider range of population in order to enable them to
learn what, where, when and how they choose to learn. Unlike the rigid
admission criteria of the conventional system, the flexible admission criteria of an
open learning system allows all interested clients to access educational and training
opportunities on a mass scale. More significantly, the use of media technologies
including print as the mode of instructional delivery (distance learning) ensures
that every enrolled learner is accessed with what and how; when and where;
he/she wants to learn. The best means of achieving the ideal of ODL is, therefore,
distance learning. This essay attempts to review the practice of ODL in Tanzania,
with a special emphasis on the Open University of Tanzania (OUT). It is divided
into three parts:
Part 1: The Genesis and Development of Distance Education in Tanzania.
Part 2: Convergence of Distance Education and Conventional Learning:
Innovations and Developments at the Open University of Tanzania (OUT).
Part 3: Quality Assurance in Open and Distance Learning Practice at the Open
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University of Tanzania (OUT): The Unfinished Business.
The first part reviews the performance and experiences of ODL projects and
programmes in the country since Independence in 1961. Within the context of a
historical perspective, marks of historicity are highlighted in order to illuminate the
challenges facing the OUT in vindicating the rationale of the ODL practice in the
current epoch. Among others, the challenges of the parity of esteem between
distance and conventional education and quality assurance are dealt with in the
second and third parts respectively.
1.1 The “Talking Drum” and Distance Education
Whereas letters delivered by courier pre-date present forms of distance
education in the earliest literate societies, the drum may be assumed to have played
a similar role in the non - literate societies of Africa. This is evident from the
following statement:
. . . long before radio or television were introduced into the Continent during the colonial era, the “homo Africanus” relied on his instrument par excellence – the drum, in order to communicate through distant space with his fellow men. That special drum came to be known as the “talking drum”. Its messages of joy and sorrow, mourning and celebration travelled over hills and mountains to link man in a two – way exchange. In a way, therefore, the “talking drum” was a precursor of the modern correspondence (read distance) education in so far as it linked the distant learner to his teacher or knowledge holder (Kabwasa and Kaunda (Eds), 1973:3)
While the educational significance of the “talking drum” may be subject to
debate, there is no doubt that the mass – orientation of its message represented a
philosophy of education which aimed at serving the needs of the greatest numbers
irrespective of physical barriers. The capacity of distance education to employ
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media in order to span the distance between educators and learners is a unique
feature of this instructional delivery methodology. According to Erdos:
Distance education requires educators to teach students despite separation by space. This separation must be overcome by writing or by one or more of the various channels of communication which technology has made possible: radio, television, tape recording, telephone. Any general discussion of the methodology of the system and sub-systems of distance education must therefore relate to the use of any medium or combination of media which can be used to span the distance between educators and learners (Erdos, 1967).
In so far as the drum managed to span the distance between educators and
learners, it can be regarded as an authentic medium of communication within this
primitive distance education system. However, there is no evidence that this
informal distance education system was developed significantly anywhere in
Africa during the pre-colonial or even the colonial eras. A low technological level
as well as the absence of highly institutionalized formal and non - formal education
systems are largely responsible for the non-development of distance education in
pre-colonial and colonial eras in Africa. Incidentally, informal distance education
systems in literate societies had to await for socio – economic changes unleashed
by the Industrial Revolution from the second half of the eighteenth century, to
secure formal existence as correspondence education. This scenario has been
described as follows:
For many of us, the term, "distance learning," calls forth the image of a group of students communicating with an instructor on another point of the planet, or outside it, by means of computers and video devices. However, education at a distance predates computers and has been around for more than a century, spurred by technological advances and social changes of the nineteenth century. With the mechanization of the printing process, information could be reproduced in faster and more economic ways. The information could then spread farther and faster by a well-organized post
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office system, through the newly built infrastructure of roads and railways. Issues of national security and economic competitiveness brought education to the forefront of national interests and the introduction of public education created a large constituency able and eager to read. The time was ripe for correspondence education (Jurich, 1999).
Correspondence education filled the gaps of educational systems that were
either too small to absorb the increasing demand, or too rigid to respond to the
needs of societies in transformation. Erdos has periodised the history of
correspondence education into four periods:
a period of individual initiative and experiment by the late 1800's;
a period of incorporation into national systems of education in the 1900's in
many countries;
the expansion period during the Second World War; and
the post-war period of rapid and widespread development (Ibid).
A fifth period that began about 40 years ago, characterized by a renewal of
distance learning with the rise of the Open or Mega Universities (the pioneer being
the Open University of the United Kingdom (UKOU) set up in 1971), and the
introduction of computer and video technology into the traditional structure of
studies by mail can be added to Erdos’ periodisation. Given that most parts of
Africa were exposed to correspondence education from Overseas from the second
half of the 20th century, the genesis and development of distance education in
Tanzania, is normally traced from the post – war period of rapid and widespread
development.
1.2 Distance Education in Tanzania
Distance education has existed in several forms in Tanzania, since the post –
World War II period. For example, immediately after the War, correspondence
courses were introduced by foreign commercial correspondence institutions in
school education, business and management studies. The institutions included the
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British Tutorial College, Rapid Results College, Wolsey Hall (presently Oxford
Open Learning) and the International Correspondence School. All these provided
foreign oriented curricula in school education and professional courses. Similar to
the conventional adult education programmes, the basic motive of the distance
education programmes was to develop middle level cadres for colonial
administration (Bugeke, 1997). After the attainment of independence in 1961, the
Government introduced school radio programmes to supplement school teaching,
as part of the efforts of addressing human resource needs. The programmes were
very popular during the 1960s and 1970s. Virtually, every primary and secondary
school in the country had a radio set, and students had to spend at least several
hours per week listening to appropriate programmes on the radio (Mattee, 1994).
During the same period, the Government successfully implemented radio study
group campaigns on various themes (Hall, 1978). The campaigns demonstrated
beyond doubt the potential of radio as a powerful medium for reaching a wide
mass of the people within a short time and without much investment in
infrastructure. Little wonder, when the former Cooperative College launched its
distance education courses in cooperative management and farming in 1965, it
blended correspondence materials offered to learners with radio broadcasts.
Early in the 1970s, the Government established the National
Correspondence Institution (NCI) within the Institute of Adult Education, with the
main purpose of providing continuing education opportunities to the neo –
literates. The specific objectives of the NCI included to equip Tanzanians with
knowledge and skills to fill jobs which meet the manpower needs of the country; to
help Tanzanians understand the nation’s policies, and thus participate more fully in
carrying out national policies and programmes and to supplement efforts being
made by leaders and educators in various departments of Government to bring
about economic and social development in the rural areas (Ntirukigwa, 1986). The
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major thrust of NCI programmes was in mass, secondary and professional
education courses. This helped those with primary-level education to attain
secondary level education (as a pre-requisite for professional training), and those
with secondary-level education to obtain professional qualifications, particularly in
the areas of public and business administration as well as in the teaching
profession. The courses were targeted at adults mainly in rural areas with literacy
skills but limited formal education (Dodds, 1996).
Other notable distance education programmes in Tanzania included the
primary distance teacher training programme which was launched in the 1970s to
supply teachers to meet the needs of the Universal Primary Education (UPE)
programme. The conventional teacher training colleges could not help solve the
problem of teacher shortage, while the demand for teachers increased with the
introduction of UPE (Chale, 1992). Since then, the Ministry of Education has
collaborated with the Institute of Adult Education in organizing in – service
teacher training programmes by distance learning methods. The African Medical
Research Foundation (AMREF) programme, was established in the 1970s, to
provide public education in health using distance learning methods, in addition to
its flying doctor service (Chale, 1995). The Health and Sanitation through Water
health education project (HESAWA) study group programme was launched in
1986. The target audience consisted of adults in rural communities in Tanzania’s
lake region. Distance education methods employed included audio-cassettes, flip-
charts, participants’ illustrated books, study groups and so on (Ibid; Dodds, 1996).
Besides non – formal and formal education programmes in basic education and
professional training, different organizations and institutions have employed
distance education in widening access to tertiary and higher education as discussed
below.
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1.2.1 Institute of Adult Education (IAE)
One among the roles of the Institute of Adult Education (IAE, 1975),
stipulated in its establishment Act No.12 is to provide correspondence education
under the Distance Education Department (DED) (previously known as National
Correspondence Institution (NCI). The economic crisis of the 1980s as well as the
decision to set up the OUT in 1992 derailed the implementation of the
recommendation of the Makwetta Commission to upgrade NCI into an
autonomous National Institute of Distance Education. Moreover, the Fourth
Schedule (Section 64), of Act No. 17 of 1992, provided for the NCI to constitute
the nucleus of the Institute of Continuing Education (ICE), of the OUT. However,
the provision was never implemented. Eventually, it was deleted by Act No. 3 of
1995 (OUT, 2001: 242).
As NCI, the IAE’s DED has been providing foundation and continuing
education courses since 1972. The courses target Primary School leavers, dropouts
and workers who want to upgrade their levels of education and junior secondary
school leavers preparing for “O” and “A” level National Examinations (IAE,
2009).
The Institute’s special programme for training teachers for UPE conducted
from 1976 to 1978 was able to enroll 45,596 teacher trainees, out of whom 36,297
(79.6%) completed the course and were awarded Teacher Grade “C” certificates.
Similarly, 16,777 students were enrolled in upgrading courses between 1980 and
1987, whereby 6,798 (40.52%) completed the course. The Ministry of Education
and Vocational Training (MoEVT) continued to provide upgrading courses to C/B
teachers who are teaching in primary schools. The in service courses upgrade these
groups of teachers to Grade III A level enabling them to acquire higher level of
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knowledge and skills for better performance in their career (Katoba & Kimathy,
2005).
The IAE has enrolled a total of 333,857 students in various correspondence
courses since the inception of its distance learning programme in 1972. However,
the total number of Students’ enrolment for Secondary Education Stages I and II in
the last five years, i.e. from 2004 to June, 2009 is 39,686 (11.9%) (Mahai, et al,
op.cit).
1.2.2 Tanzania Global Development Learning Centre (TGDLC)
Tanzania Global Development Learning Centre (TGDLC) is one of the
Institutions in the country with modern IT equipment. It is a government
Institution and member of World Bank Initiative - Global Development Learning
Network (GDLN) (www.gdln.org). TGDLC forms part of over 120 existing
knowledge sharing hubs on six continents under GDLN. Launched under Cap.245
on 11th December 1997 and Government Notice No. 83 of 2003, TGDLC was
officially launched as an Executive Agency - Tanzania Global Learning Agency
(TAGLA), on 11th July 2012, in order to enable decision makers, professionals and
practitioners to learn and share knowledge and information through online and
offline dialogues and discussions (Kombani, 2012).
Similar to the TGDLC, TAGLA provides for global dialogues, Video
conference courses, online courses, face to face and blended courses. These
courses are organized in collaboration with the government and other institutions
within and outside the country (TGDLC, 2008).
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As indicated in the Table below, TGDLC offers within and outside the
country, high profile short – courses mostly for executives, strictly on commercial
terms.
Table 1: TGDLC ONGOING COURSES
Course Dates/Venue Target Group FeeStrategic Negotiations for Senior Managers
9th – 13th May, 2011; IFM, Dar es Salaam
Executive Assistants
TZS. 550,000
Executive Assistants Skills Development Advanced
16th - 20th May, 2011; IFM, Dar es Salaam
Executive Assistants
TZS 720,000
Management and Leadership Skills Workshop
23rd - 27th May 2011; Dubai
Leaders USD 4,500
Transformational Leadership for Women’s Empowerment Course (TLWE)
13th - 17 June and 2nd intake 20th - 24th june, 2011), Naura Springs Hotel, Arusha
Women Leaders TZS. 550,000
Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)
28 june - 1st July 2011;
Executive Assistants
TZS 620,000
Microfinance December 2010 “ USD 50
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Training of Trainers (MFTOT): A blended Learning Course;
– April, 2011;
Managing the 21st Century LGA;
27th June -1st
July, 2011; “ Fees: Tzs.
550,000/=
Fraud, Investigation and Prevention;
20th -24th June, 2011;
“ Tzs. 550,000/=
Combating Corruption in the Public Sector
June 27-29, 2011 “ Tzs. 980,000/=
Improving Individual Performance: Benchmarking against top performing organizations
Executive Assistants
Tzs. 980,000/=
Source: www.tgdlc.go.tz
Courses offered by TAGLA are based on the same principle as any Government Agency is required to provide service in order to enhance productivity on the basis of value for money (Kombani, op.cit).
Table 2: A Sample of Courses Offered by TAGLA
Course Delivery Mode DatesCritical Skills for Senior Managers Video Conference 15th – 19th April
2013Cyber Security and Its Effects on Corporates and Government Institutions
Workshop, Arusha 16th – 19th April 2013
Finance for Non – Finance Managers Video Conference 22nd – 26th April 2013
Leadership Skills Enhancement Workshop, Dubai 22nd – 26th April 2013
Empowering Leadership for Change and Workshop, Dubai 22nd – 26th April
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Sustainable Development 2013ICT – Based Financial Management and Disbursements for Accountants Working in Government and WB Funded Projects
Workshop, TAGLA
28th April – 10th
May 2013
Strategic Negotiation for Senior Managers
Workshop, TAGLA
6th – 10th May 2013
Global Transformation Leadership for Women Empowerment
Workshop, TAGLA
6th – 10th May 2013
Fraud Investigation and Prevention Video Conference 6th – 10th May 2013
Strategic Leadership of E – Government Initiatives
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
20th – 24th May 2013
Source: www.tgdlc.go.tz visited on 6th February 2015
Two projects are presently been run by TAGLA. The first one is the
Tanzania Development Information Centre (TDIC). This is a multi – partner one –
stop – shop for development information. It provides economies of scale to
information dissemination and access. The second project is Tanzania Country
Level Knowledge Network (CLKnet), which provides a countrywide knowledge
network for research and policy development platform for decision makers,
professionals and practitioners. In the last 12 years, about 2000 Government
employees, have benefited from these and related services. TAGLA is a member of
the Association of African Distance Learning Centre (AADLC) which forms a part
of the GDLN.
1.2.3 Moshi Co - operative University (MoCU)
It is the oldest training institution in Tanzania, with more than 50 years of
teaching experience in the fields of co-operative accounting, co-operative
management and rural development. However, MoCU is the youngest public
university in the country as it was only on 3rd July 2014 that the Tanzania
Commission for Universities (TCU) ratified the decision to elevate the former
Moshi University College of Cooperative and Business Studies (MUCCoBS) to a
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full university status. MUCCOBS came into being as a result of upgrading of the
initial Cooperative College into a Constituent College of Sokoine University of
Agriculture (SUA) in May 2004. Starting as a Commercial College of a Regional
Cooperative Union after the Second World War, the College was upgraded into a
National Cooperative College in 1963. With 18 regional centres scattered all over
the country, the College served as a training institution for the co-operative
movement and staff of the Ministry responsible for co-operative development
(www.mocu.ac.tz visited on 10th February 2015).
The Cooperative College released its earliest courses – Principles of
Cooperatism, Elementary Book – keeping and Management of Cooperative
Societies, in 1965. All employees of primary cooperative societies as well as
trainee cooperative inspectors were required to study courses offered by the
Cooperative Education Centre by correspondence. Learners were advised to form
study circles. In a study circle, a learner was given the opportunity to participate in
the studies with other circle members but in the end he submitted personal
solutions to assignments in the study units. Between 1965 and 1986, a total of
39,381 learners were enrolled in the study circles. Later on, the CEC introduced
the system of study groups supplemented by radio broadcasts. The study groups
were forums for radio listening and discussion. Furthermore, the study groups were
designed to assist semi – literate and illiterate learners to participate effectively in
studies by contributing ideas and exchanging experiences with other group
members. In a study group, members were required to write assignments and
forward answers for correction as a group. The first CEC programme was aired by
the National Radio Channel on 6th January 1967. Unlike previous educational radio
broadcasts, CEC radio programmes were well integrated with the corresponding
study materials. The CEC distributed study units to all study groups with a time
table showing dates, time and the lesson to be covered by each radio broadcast.
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The CEC can rightly be regarded as the country’s first distance education
institution. However, as indicated in the Table below, by 2011, among a total of 22
programmes being offered by MUCCOBS, only 1 programme was being offered
by distance learning. This shows that the former CEC was not able to transmit its
entire package of distance learning programmes to MUCCOBS, hence, to MoCU
(Ibid). Presently, MoCU is offering a total of 35 programmes; 32 at its Main
Campus in Moshi, and 3 at Kizumbi Campus in Shinyanga Region
(www.mocu.ac.tz).
Table 3: MUCCoBS PROGRAMMES
POSTGRADUATE DIPLOMA PROGRAMMESPostgraduate Diploma in Cooperative Business Management (PGD-CBM)
Fulltime One Year (Two Semesters) Pre – service and In – service Personnel
Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting and Finance(PGD-AF)
Fulltime One Year (Two Semesters) Pre – service and In – service Personnel
Postgraduate Diploma in Community Development (PGD-CD)
Fulltime One Year (Two Semesters) Pre – service and In – service Personnel
Postgraduate Diploma in Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies Management(PGD-SACCOS MGT)
Fulltime One Year (Two Semesters) Pre – service and In – service Personnel
EVENING POSTGRADUATE PROGRAMMESPostgraduate Diploma in Cooperative Business Management (PGD-CBM)
One and a half year – Pre – service and In – service Personnel, Moshi Campus only
Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting and Finance(PGD-AF)
One and a half year – Pre – service and In – service Personnel, Moshi Campus only
Postgraduate Diploma in Community Development (PGD-CD)
One and a half year – Pre – service and In – service Personnel, Moshi Campus only
Postgraduate Diploma in Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies
One and a half year – Pre – service and In – service Personnel, Moshi
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Management(PGD-SACCOS MGT)
Campus only
DISTANCE LEARNING POSTGRADUATE PROGRAMMEPostgraduate Diploma in Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies Management(PGD-SACCOS MGT)
One and a half year distance learning
DEGREE PROGRAMMESBachelor of Arts in Community Economic Development (BA-CED)
Three-year programme (six semesters) Pre-service and In-service personnel.
Bachelor of Arts in Accounting and Finance (BA-AF)
Three-year programme (six semesters) Pre-service and In-service personnel.
Bachelor of Arts in Cooperative Management and Accounting (BA-CMA)
Three-year programme (six semesters) Pre-service and In-service personnel.
Bachelor of Arts in Procurement and Supply Management (BA-PSM)
Three-year programme (six semesters) Pre-service and In-service personnel.
DIPLOMA PROGRAMMEDiploma in Cooperative Management and Accounting (DCMA)
Two year programme (four semesters) Pre-service and In-service personnel.
CERTIFICATE PROGRAMMESCertificate in Management and Accounting (CMA)
One academic year (two semesters) programme for Pre - serviceand In-service candidates.
Certificate in Micro-Finance Management (CMF)
One academic year (two semesters) programme for Pre - serviceand In-service candidates.
Certificate in Accounting and One academic year (two semesters)
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Finance (CAF) programme for Pre - serviceand In-service candidates.
Certificate in Information Technology (CIT)
One academic year (two semesters) programme for Pre - serviceand In-service candidates.
Source: Kolimba et al, 2011.
On the occasion of the Third Forum of the Distance Education Association
of Tanzania (DEATA) hosted by MUCCoBS, 22nd – 23rd August 2013, the
Principal, Prof. Faustine K. Bee hinted about the rise of another ODL provider in
the country:
Moshi Cooperative College, the forerunner of MUCCoBS, pioneered the establishment of DEATA in 1992, alongside the OUT, Institute of Adult Education (IAE), Southern Africa Extension Unit (SAEU) and the Faculty of Education at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM). It played an active role in activities and forums organised by DEATA, including the historic National Forum organised at the IFM in 1997.
The third forum deserves to be regarded as historic. Besides the founding institutional members and others like the Ministry of Health, MUHAS, SUA and VETA, the Ministry of Home Affairs joined DEATA as an institutional member as early this year, the Police Force launched a proficiency training programme by ODL, for about 40,000 members of its rank and file (Bee, 2013).
Further details on this latest provider, will be deferred to another forum. On the contrary, below we shall take up from Prof. Bee by providing further details on DEATA. 1.2.4 Distance Education Association of Tanzania (DEATA)
The Distance Education Association of Tanzania (DEATA) is a national
association, which was established in December 1992 and registered in August
1993. The goal of DEATA is to promote networking and collaboration among
distance education professionals in Tanzania, by way of organizing conferences,
workshops, seminars, etc; as well as by providing for them a platform for
networking with distance education and open learning professionals and
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organizations in the World. Furthermore, the Association aims to facilitate
formulation and adoption of a comprehensive National Policy for Non – Formal
Education (NFE), Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and Information and
Communication Technologies (ICTs). This task is extremely crucial in Tanzania,
as educational enrolments and budgets for education at all levels, are still very low.
In such a situation, distance education has an important role to play in enhancing
access to quality education cost – effectively. In order to realize this objective,
distance education practitioners have to network and share resources for optimal
delivery of services.
Since its inauguration, the Association has been involved in a range of
professional development activities, including representing the country at regional
and international distance education gatherings; participating in a National Forum
on the formulation of proposals for a National ODL Policy in 1997; and running
professional development workshops on topics such as study materials’
development, provision of student support services, planning for sustainable
distance education programmes, etc. Besides assisting in setting up National
Distance Education Associations in the sister East African countries of Kenya and
Uganda, DEATA organized and hosted the founding meeting of the Open
Learning and Distance Education Association of Eastern Africa (OLDEA - EA), in
Dar es Salaam, in September,1998 (www.virtualcampuses.eu/OLDEA-EA).
OLDEA – EA Country members include Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi and Seychelles. Each of the five countries has representative national association as follows:
Kenya - Open Learning Association of Kenya (OPLAK) Uganda - Uganda National Distance and Open Learning (UNADOL) Tanzania - Distance Education Association of Tanzania (DEATA) Malawi - Open Distance Education Association of Malawi (ODEAM) On OLDEA - EA establishment, Seychelles was in the process of
registering a National Association.
17
In spite of their noble objectives and even initial achievements, both
DEATA and OLDEA – EA have been dormant pressure groups for quite some
time. However, in a Special Meeting held on the occasion of the First National
ODL Conference organized by the OUT in Arusha on 11 th May 2011, DEATA
members resolved to revive the Association by filling in vacant posts within the
Executive Committee. Since then, DEATA Executive Committee has successfully
organized the second, third and fourth National ODL Conferences in 2012, 2013
and 2014 respectively. All the conferences have been hosted by OUT, with the
exception of the third conference which was hosted by MoCU. Certainly, this is a
significant contribution of OUT in coordinating and promoting ODL practice in
Tanzania.
1.2.5 INADES-Formation (IF)
INADES is the French acronym for the African Institute for Economic and
Social Development. INADES-Formation (IF) is an off-shoot institution formed
with the aim of providing training to rural communities. It started its operations in
1962 in West African countries, with Abidjan, Ivory Coast, being the headquarters.
The aim then was to train farmers and extension workers through seminars and
correspondence courses. With time, more francophone countries were added,
including Cameroon, Burkina-Faso, Chad, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi and Togo. In the early 1970s, two anglophone
countries; Ethiopia and Kenya, were included. The programme in Tanzania was
started in 1989, as a branch of IF-Kenya. In 1992 it became an autonomous
national office, IF-Tanzania, with its own offices in Dodoma in central Tanzania.
From its creation in 1962, INADES-Formation devoted itself to correspondence
training, first for African officers through the Economics course, and from 1965
for African farmers through the Agricultural Training course. Later on, other
18
courses were added: Training in Rural Self-Advancement, also for farmers;
Agricultural Extension and Small Projects Management for extension agents. Later
still, a course on Perspectives in Development was designed for development
workers. Correspondence courses dominated IF’s training approach up to the
1990s, when other methods started taking precedence. At the end of the 1996/97
financial year, correspondence courses consumed only seven per cent of the time
spent on activities in National Offices. There were 11,853 trainees enrolled on
correspondence courses, compared with 20,599 in 1992/93, and more than 25,000
in 1989/90 (INADES-Formation, 1998).
Since the collapse of CEC distance education programmes in the mid –
1980s, IF-Tanzania has been the only institution in Tanzania offering distance
education in the form of correspondence courses to farmers and rural-based
development workers. Originally IF-Tanzania operated two parallel programmes:
(i) Correspondence courses offered to trainees from all over the country.
(ii) Seminars organised for farmers and extension workers in Dodoma, Singida and
Morogoro Regions.
The initial activities of IF - Tanzania were to run an agricultural training
course in the form of seminars for farmers at Ipala Mission near Dodoma. Later,
the Agricultural Training course was offered by correspondence to farmers and
extension workers, using booklets which had been developed at IF-Kenya. While
the Kenyan booklets have now been replaced by new books developed to reflect
the Tanzanian context, this course has been the most durable and the most popular,
and has come to symbolise the original mission of IF. In due course, two other
courses were added: Management for Development Workers (in English), using
books developed by IF - Kenya and CORATAFRICA (a development management
19
NGO); and Leadership and Development, a revised and expanded Swahili version
using materials developed at IF - Tanzania. The former course was aimed mostly at
those who had completed at least four years of secondary education, and were
either working or aspired to work as development workers, village leaders, middle-
level managers, extension workers, teachers, trainers, religious leaders and
government officials. The latter course was aimed primarily at farmer leaders (for
example, of groups, cooperatives or income-generating projects), extension
workers and other rural development workers with at least primary level education
(Ibid).
As with the rest of the IF network, emphasis has significantly shifted in
recent years from correspondence courses to other approaches. The
correspondence courses were seen as merely facilitating the transfer of knowledge
from experts to farmers without really creating the necessary capacity for
managing change in the rural context. As a result, correspondence courses are seen
as merely playing a supplementary role to the main approach, and slowly the
amount of time and resources devoted to correspondence courses has declined.
During the 1998 reporting year, only a total 106 person-days were devoted to the
marking of assignment sheets from trainees, and out of these, only 25 days were
contributed by IF - Tanzania staff, compared to 823 days devoted to the training
projects. Thus, currently, correspondence courses no longer form the core of IF
activities, but rather are seen as supporting the training projects and benefiting
those who cannot be reached directly by IF - Tanzania, but who are still interested
to acquire this knowledge (Ibid). In this particular case, the institution is a replica
of SUA’s ICE as discussed below.
20
1.2.6 Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA)SUA was established on the 1st July, 1984 by Parliamentary Act No. 6 of
the same year. The University is currently made up of four campuses and one
constituent college. The campuses are the Main Campus and Solomon Mahlangu
Campus in Morogoro; the Olmotonyi Campus in Arusha, and the Mazumbai
Campus in Lushoto. The constituent college is Moshi University College of
Cooperative and Business Studies (MUCCoBS) located in Moshi Municipality
(presently an autonomous university).
SUA has four mandates, namely training, research, consultancy and
outreach. The Institute of Continuing Education (ICE) in collaboration with
faculties, centers and other institutes offers short-term in-service programmes to
field and operational staff as well as training and extension services to farmers and
community leaders. It also coordinates outreach programmes where distance
learning is based. Activities of the ICE revolve around four major programming
areas:
Extension and farmer's education Continuing education Educational technology Distance learning and correspondence
SUA-TV is one of the facilities that provide distance learning and adult
education. The SUA TV is also an education technology facility managed by the
ICE. Programmes broadcast by SUA-TV cover a wide range of disciplines
including: agriculture e.g. documentary programme on research activities and
agricultural technologies, management of natural resources, human health and
nutrition, soil conservation and land management, integrated pest management,
environment and development, veterinary, animal health and production. Also
there are cross-cutting issues like gender, HIV/AIDS and good governance.
Furthermore, the SUA TV encourages programme exchange and cooperation with
21
other TV stations worldwide ([email protected]). This account shows clearly that
SUA employs distance learning methods in offering support services to some of its
conventional mode programmes. Incidentally, similar demands have compelled the
University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) to integrate distance education techniques in
its instructional delivery mode as discussed below.
1.2.7 University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM)
This is the oldest higher learning institution in the country.
Since its inception as a National University in 1970, UDSM has grown steadily
both in student numbers and academic programmes.
From 1998, UDSM started to supplement conventional teaching and learning with
e – learning in order to:
(i) Meet new learner styles.
(ii) Reduce training cost per student.
(iii) Meet increased demand of access to higher education.
The extent to which the University was failing to cope up with the rising demand
for access to its “lecture theatres” is apparent from the Table below:
Table 4: Variation Between Application and Registration Levels at the UDSM: 2002/03 – 2006/07
Year Applied Registered % age2002/03 6,171 3,423 552003/04 6,036 3,582 592004/05 8,616 4,264 432005/06 17,164 4,475 262006/07 15,185 7,049 46Source: UDSM Facts and Figures 2006/2007
Efforts made in order to address the problem of coping up with rising
enrolment through e – teaching and learning, include introducing and improving
ICT infrastructure by:
22
(i) Putting in place fiber optic backbone and networking in all UDSM
Units.
(ii) Providing video conferencing facilities.
(iii) Establishing computer labs in all Faculties and Departments.
(iv) Connecting the University network to the Internet.
(v) Setting up Centre for Virtual Learning (CVL) to spearhead,
coordinate and train staff and students in all ODeL oriented
activities.
Current Projects and Plans in ODeL underway at the UDSM include:
(i) Enhancing University Teaching and Learning Capacity through the
ICT mediated distance learning mode.
(ii) Creating UDSM E – Content Warehouse through E- pedagogy.
(iii) Building of three ODeL Centres.
(iv) Developing E – Content for three programmes (PGDE, PGDEM and
BBA) (Twaakyondo, 2008).
1.2.8 Southern Africa Extension Unit (SAEU)The SAEU is a distance education institution. It was initiated as a project by
a decision of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting held in New
Delhi, India, in 1983. The Unit was set up in Dar es Salaam, in November 1984, to
serve the educational and training needs of South African youths and adults living
in exile in Frontline States in Eastern and Southern Africa. As South African
Extension Unit (SAEU), its courses focused on the foundation and secondary
levels of education. By the time of the repatriation of the South African exiles from
the early 1990s, more than 3000 students had been enrolled by the SAEU in its
distance learning programme in Angola, Botswana, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and
Zimbabwe.
23
As Southern Africa Extension Unit (SAEU), it took the following
transformational steps between 1990 and 1994 to cope with the repatriation of its
traditional target group:
introduced vocational courses to South African students in exile;
extended the courses to the returnees in South Africa;
diversified its role in order to cater for other refugees and non-refugees;
introduced the Local Government Councillors’ Distance Training
Programme in Tanzania; and
extended its distance learning programme to Burundian refugees in Western
Tanzania.
As a result of diversifying its role in order to cater for non – refugee
communities, the SAEU mounted the Local Government Councillors’ Distance
Training Programme in Tanzania in 1995. A total of 3000 councillors studied and
completed the three modules of the programme designed to introduce them to their
roles in a multi – party democracy system. While the SAEU has immense
experience and even a track record in providing ODL programmes within and
outside the country, it has not been able to sustain its services in this area due to
the time limitations of the specific projects it undertakes from time to time. For
example, some of its projects include management of small arms and light
weapons in North Western Tanzania, development and production of schools’
training materials, short – term skills enhancement, Local Government Capacity
Building Support Project (2005 – 2007) (SAEU, 2007).
1.2.9 Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MoHSW)
The health sector has a human resource shortage of about 60%. Meanwhile,
effective implementation of the current Primary Health Sector Development
Programme (PHSDP) requires more human resources to be deployed both in
24
quality and quantity. As institutional training capacity through conventional
instruction is limited, MoHSW has recognized distance education as a key strategy
for continuing professional development which can effectively alleviate the crisis
of human resource shortage. For this reason, since 2000, the Ministry is
implementing a Distance Education Programme, largely for upgrading health
workers (Kisimbo and Kinemo, 2013). The Centre for Distance Education (CDE)
in Morogoro is the National Coordinating Centre of 8 Zonal Health Resource
Centres and several study centres which implement various distance education
courses. Presently, upgrading courses are available in two major programmes
namely Ordinary Diploma in Clinical Medicine and Ordinary Diploma in Nursing.
Under the first programme, a total of 250 Clinical Assistants will be upgraded to
Clinical Officers after successfully completing two years (four semesters) of
blended training combining face to face sessions, self – study, practicum/clinical
apprenticeships, hospital field attachment and exam sessions. Using a similar mode
of delivery, the second programme is expected to benefit 16,000 enrolled nurses
who work in different levels of health care facilities. Presently, they have limited
opportunity to conventional upgrading courses to become registered nurses (Ibid).
1.2.10 The Open University of Tanzania (OUT)
The history of university student enrolment in Tanzania shows a very small
transition rate from secondary to university level in comparison with other
countries. Therefore, in 1990, an investigation by a National Task Force on
Education found that although the transition rate to both public and private
secondary schools had risen to 40,000, the transition represented only about 15%
of those completing primary education. This was the lowest transition rate in Sub
– Saharan Africa (URT, 1993:9). By 1992, transition rate to secondary education
was 40% in Uganda and Zambia; 50% in Kenya and 70% in Zimbabwe (Ibid). A
25
study conducted by the World Bank in 2000 revealed that only 43 out of 100,000
students were admitted in tertiary education as compared to 152 students in South
Africa, 738 students in Namibia and 626 students in Zimbabwe. Although four
years later the transition rate tripled to 129 out of 100,000 students, it was still
lower than the transition rates in the other East African countries of Kenya and
Uganda (URT, 2004). Meanwhile, by the turn of the last century, Tanzania’s
combined Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) at primary, secondary and tertiary levels
(33%) was slightly better than that of war – torn Sierra Leone (30%) but far below
the mean for Sub – Saharan Africa (44%) (UNDP, 2000:14). Scores for Kenya and
Uganda were 50% and 40% respectively; and 99% for Canada (Ibid).
Consequently, in terms of Human Development Index (HDI), Tanzania was ranked
156 out of 174 countries; Sierra Leone was ranked last and Canada first (Ibid).
Aware of the foregoing situation, the Government of Tanzania, at various
times, commissioned studies aimed at finding an alternative method of providing
more places for university education at affordable cost. The idea of setting up an
Open University was mentioned for the first time by the then Minister of National
Education, Hon. Nicholaus Kuhanga in 1979. In his letter to the British
Government for relevant guidance, he noted:
. . . the Government would soon have to come to a decision on setting up another university and it would like to avoid the heavy investment in residential accommodation, lecture rooms and libraries which accompany conventional institutions. They would like guidance on the possibility of establishing an Open University (British Council, 1979: 2).
Contrary to the initial idea of the Minister, a Joint Study Team set up to
explore the request, recommended the setting up of a Correspondence Institute
within UDSM under the control of the SENATE as any other Institute. The
University Staff were to provide the teaching input with a small coordinating and
26
clerical staff to man the Unit. Using a low resource teaching package consisting of
Study Guides, Textbooks, Assignments, Long Vacation School and Radio
Programmes, the Institute was to develop in phases to become eventually a
separate distance learning based University, using a multi – media package with
local support through a Regional Network (Ibid: 51 – 52; Mmari, 1996).
The following year, i.e. 1980, a Presidential Commission on Education
(PCE) chaired by a Cabinet Minister, Hon. J. Makwetta, reviewed the entire
education system in the country. Besides recommending the elevation of the NCI,
then a Department of the IAE into an autonomous Institute of Correspondence
Education, the PCE resuscitated the idea of setting up an Institute to coordinate
studies by correspondence at the UDSM and in other universities. These and other
recommendations of the PCE suffered the same fate as those of the Anglo –
Tanzania Study Team. It was not feasible to implement any of these
recommendations, as a result of the economic crisis of the 1980s, the lost decade
(Nyerere, 1999). In 1988, a Committee appointed by the then Minister of
Education, Hon. A. Mayagila, explored prospects for establishing an Open
University in Tanzania. The Committee, chaired by Hon. Kuhanga, recommended
the university’s resource requirements and also identified the overall benefits of the
proposed university to the society (URT, 1990). Previous experiences, may have
dictated the decision to move straight into an autonomous and dedicated distance
teaching university.
The recommendations of the Kuhanga Committee provided the basis for the
Government’s decision to establish the OUT in 1992. As an Open University, the
OUT was intended to promote the ideals of adult education and lifelong learning
by making tertiary level education accessible to all aspirants including employed
27
staff who cannot study in conventional universities due to their career
commitments; disadvantaged groups like women, rural dwellers, people with
disabilities; and school leavers who cannot be admitted in conventional institutions
due to capacity limitations. The efforts of the Government in providing open and
distance learning opportunities to Tanzanians, reached their climax when the Open
University of Tanzania (OUT) was established by Act No.17 of 1992 and became
operational in 1993. Its first cohort of 766 students was registered in January 1994.
Some of the students managed to complete successfully non – degree and even
undergraduate studies and were awarded their certificates at the OUT’s maiden
graduation ceremony held on 22nd March 1999. This was a historic graduation
ceremony due to several reasons which will be discussed later on. However, one
notable reason was that among the graduands, was the Founding President,
Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere who was conferred with his first and last Honorary
Doctorate from an Open University (Nyerere, op.cit). Incidentally, his acceptance
speech has gone into the annales of history both as his last public speech as well as
his last lecture on education. In order to streamline and ensure effective
coordination of programmes in both public and private Universities, Act No. 17 of
1992 was repealed and substituted by the Universities’ Umbrella Act of 2005
and the OUT Charter incorporated in 2007.
Currently, a cumulative student enrolment in non - degree, undergraduate
and postgraduate programmes is 27,558, 48,526 and 16,940 respectively. With a
total enrolment of 92,568 students, the OUT has qualified as the largest tertiary
institution in the country. Meanwhile, the university has an estimated total of
31,821 active students (OUT, 2014: xiv). Furthermore, the OUT has been able to
offer to the adult population, within and outside Tanzania, a broad range of
academic programmes at the non – degree, undergraduate and postgraduate levels
28
as well as demand driven courses in the form of seminars, workshops and tailor
made courses. This thrust has enabled the University to come up with programmes
which are responsive to community needs. The cumulative number of graduates
from 1999 to 2013 was 18,099 whereby 7,167 (39.6%) were females. Among
18,099 graduates, 7,802 students (43.1%) graduated in non – degree programmes
out of whom 3,508 (45%) were females; 8,202 students (45.3%) graduated in
undergraduate programmes out of whom 2,997 (36.5%) were females, and 2,095
(11.6%) were graduates for postgraduate and honorary degrees (Ibid: xv). While
the university has set up Regional Study Centres in every Region on Tanzania
Mainland, it has Coordinating Centres in Zanzibar, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and
Namibia.
Map 1: OUT Study/Coordinating Centres in Tanzania
Source: Directorate of Communication and Marketing, OUT.
The following Tables (5, 6, 7 & 8), show cumulative enrolment in non – degree,
undergraduate and postgraduate programmes up to 2013/14.
29
Table 5: Cumulative Enrolment in Non – Degree Programmes: 1996 – 2013/14
Programme1 TotalMale Female Total
OFC 13338 8159 21497CYP-Dip 612 225 837
CCDE 78 35 113 ODDEOL 140 50 190
DPTE 2445 2360 4805 CPPH 13 3 16 CECE 4 12 16 DECE 5 9 14Cert. in Youth Programme 10 7 17
Total 16688 10870 27558 Source: OUT Facts and Figures 2013/14: 32
Non – degree programmes, specifically the Foundation Course (OFC), were
introduced two years after the launching of undergraduate programmes. The
purpose of this non – degree programmes is to widen access to undergraduate
courses. To date, the OFC is the leading programme in terms of students’
enrolment. This shows that many adults in the country are eager to pursue higher
learning but they lack direct entry qualifications to university level courses.
Table 6: Cumulative Undergraduate Students’ Enrolment:
1 OFC (Foundation Course); CYP (Commonwealth Youth Programme); CCDE (Certificate Course in Distance Education); ODDEOL (Ordinary Diploma in Distance Education and Open Learning); CPPH (Certificate in Poultry and Piggery Health); DPTE (Diploma in Primary Teacher Education; CECE (Certificate in Early Childhood Education); DECE (Diploma in Early Childhood Education. OUT Centres have also been set up in the recently established Regions - Njombe, Geita, Simiyu and Katavi (not shown on the Map).
30
1994 – 2013/14Faculty Cumulative Enrolment % age
Male Female Total
FASS 12011 5411 17422 35.9
FBM 5888 1705 7593 15.6
FED 6142 3690 9832 20.3
FLW 6377 1180 7557 15.6
FSTES 4001 4956 6122 12.6
Total 35374 13152 48526 100
Source: The Open University of Tanzania (June 2014): Facts and Figures
2013/14, p.15.
Although there was a fluctuating enrolment trend in various Faculties during
the first six years of the University (1994 – 2000), currently, there is a steady rising
enrolment trend in all Faculties. This trend signifies growing recognition and trust
by the community to the undergraduate programmes on offer at the OUT. As
indicated in Table 6 above, FASS has the highest admission (35.9%), followed by
FED (20.3%); FBM (15.6%) and FLW (15.6%). FSTES has the least enrolment
among all the Faculties (12.6%).
However, admission in terms of undergraduate programmes, shows that BA
(Ed) has the highest enrolment among both male and female students (Table 7
below). Female enrolment in all programmes is, however, significantly low, with
the exception of BA (Social Work) and BA (Sociology). BSc (ICT) and BEd (SE)
programmes have the least admission figures in spite of the urgent needs to
enhance the effectiveness of open and distance learning through innovative use and
application of the ICTs as well as the promotion of equality and equity in service
provision by addressing adequately special educational and training needs of the
31
marginalized sections of the community particularly people with disabilities.
Similar to the challenge of increasing access to Science, Technological and
Business Education undergraduate programmes, the OUT has to promote
increasing access to BSc (ICT) and BEd (SE) programmes in order to address
effectively community needs.
Table 7: Cumulative Undergraduate Students’ Admission by Programme and Gender 1994 – 2013/14Programme Male Female Total % age
(Female)
BA (Gen) 2459 810 3269 24.8
BA (Ed) 7257 3067 10324 29.7
BCom (Gen) 1216 178 1394 12.8
BCom (Ed) 321 65 386 16.8
BEd. 5507 3175 8682 36.6
BEd (SE) 111 75 186 40.3
BEd (TEP) 169 87 256 33.4
BEd (AE) 45 32 77 41.6
BEd (PM) 310 321 632 50.8
LLB 6377 1180 7557 15.6
BSc (Gen) 1869 539 2408 22.4
BSc (Ed) 2237 497 2734 18.2
BSc (ES) 389 74 463 16.0
BSc. (ICT) 461 56 517 10.8
BBA(Gen) 2427 611 3038 20.1
BBA(Ed) 642 241 883 27.3
BBA (Acc) 255 92 347 26.5
BBA (Fin.) 272 76 348 21.8
32
BBA (HRM) 219 126 345 36.5
BBA (IB) 58 27 85 31.8
BBA (Mark.) 224 91 315 28.9
BHRM 254 198 452 43.8
BA
(Tourism) 574 133 70718.8
BA (SW) 506 466 972 47.9
BA (Soc.) 807 695 1502 46.3
BA (Journ.) 105 39 144 27.1
BA (Mass Com.) 303 201 504 66.3
Total 35374 13152 48526 27.1
Source: The Open University of Tanzania (June 2014): Facts and Figures, p.12.
Admission into postgraduate programmes shows significant enrolment rates
in humanities and the social sciences but extremely low admission rates in science
programmes (Table 8 below).
Table 8: Cumulative Enrolment in Postgraduate Programmes: 2001 – 2013/14
33
Source: The Open University of Tanzania (June 2014): Facts and Figures, Table 7.
1.3 Marks
of
Historicity
34
Programme Male Female Total
PGDE 999 415 1414M.Dist. Ed. 237 92 329M.Ed (APPS) 2095 961 3056
MA 250 87 337MBA 3908 913 4821MSc 20 11 31PGDL 408 61 469LLM 175 47 222LLM IT & T 127 40 167MSc CED 385 190 575M. CED 724 484 1208MA SW 215 181 396MA Tourism 105 23 128MBA T & L 139 18 157MHRM 604 277 881M.Sc Economics 188 25 213
LLM ICJ 58 7 65PGDBS 311 139 450MA KISW. 81 56 137MA PSPA 4 0 4MA Economics 9 1 10
MA Linguistics 10 1 11
PGDSW 16 14 30MA Rel. Studies 2 0 2
MSc Env. Studies 113 24 137
MSc Botany 2 0 2MSc. Chemistry 3 0 3
MSc Physics 1 0 1MA Sociology 4 1 5
MEd ODL 111 42 153MA Literature 0 2 2
MPM 371 106 477MA History 14 1 15MSc Biology 2 0 2MES 74 23 97MA Intern Coop and Dev.
20 10 30
Institutional examples discussed here, demonstrate that ODL is well
established in Tanzania. ODL provision has grown during the last 50 years in
numbers of projects/ institutions, programmes and students. This trend has
vindicated the prophecy made in the early 1990s that ODL expansion was bound to
occur in the following areas (Dodds, 1991):
Refresher and in – service courses for professionals and technicians, as a
means of keeping them abreast of rapidly changing skills and technologies;
Initial and up – grading courses for apprentices in various vocations and
professions, allowing such initial training to become increasingly on – the –
job;
Courses at secondary and tertiary level for adults who never had the
opportunity to take such courses earlier in their lives, or who dropped out
from such opportunities if they did; such courses will recognise that
universal opportunity for education at any level is not enough: motivations
and attitudes and even aptitudes change, hence the need for continuing
education.
Furthermore, the decision to establish the OUT can rightly be regarded as a bold
and significant measure taken by the Government in order to widen access
opportunities in adult education in the widest sense of the term. Previous attempts
were limited in terms of scope and programmes (Shemwetta, et al, 2008).
However, a historical perspective of the genesis and development of distance
education in Tanzania needs to underscore three important marks of historicity.
First, prior to the post – World War II period, the colonial government set up a
correspondence education programme in primary education exclusively for the
children of government officials and white settlers in remote areas (Tanganyika
Territory, 1929). The programme ran until early in 1961, when it was transferred to
Kenya. By then, it was serving white children in Tanganyika, Kenya, Nyasaland
35
(Malawi), Northern and Southern Rhodesia (Zambia and Zimbabwe) (Ibid, 1961).
Secondly, as already noted, initial attempts in initiating distance teaching at the
university level, were not successful. Thirdly, the initial proposal provided for the
introduction of distance teaching at the university level in a dual mode structure.
Using a low resource teaching package consisting of Study Guides, Textbooks,
Assignments, Long Vacation School and Radio Programmes, the Correspondence
Institute was to develop in phases to become eventually a separate distance
learning based University, using a multi – media package with local support
through a Regional Network. In short, similar to SUA, MUHAS and ARU, OUT
was to evolve out of the womb of UDSM. With the advantage of hindsight, it is
now obvious that the rise and development of the OUT, deviated from this
trajectory. These historical marks can shed considerable light in attempts aimed at
clarifying the current status as well as the challenges facing the practice of open
and distance learning in the country as will be discussed in subsequent parts.
1.4 Summary and Conclusion
In this first part of the essay, we have reviewed the performance and
experiences of ODL projects and programmes in the country since Independence in
1961. Through a cross – section of institutional examples discussed, it has been
demonstrated that ODL is well established in Tanzania. Meanwhile, ODL
provision has grown during the last 50 years in numbers of projects/institutions,
programmes and students. Furthermore, within the context of a historical
perspective, marks of historicity have been highlighted in order to illuminate the
challenges of vindicating the rationale of the ODL practice in the current epoch. In
the following part, we will focus on the OUT whose major challenge is to vindicate
its vision of becoming a World – class university in the delivery of affordable
quality education by ODL. Can this noble objective be realized solely by ODL?
Assuming it cannot, do we have to abandon it in favour of conventional delivery?
36
In case this will be an unrealistic option, will the “blending” of ODL and
conventional delivery methods offer a more viable option? What then is “blended
learning”? Is it the convergence of distance and conventional education? Is such a
convergence a real phenomenon or a mirage? These and related questions will be
explored in part 2, within the context of the OUT.
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Chambers’ Encyclopedia Vol. IV (1973), International Learning Systems Corporation Limited, London.
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Dodds, T (1996), The Use of Distance Learning in Non-Formal Education, Vancouver and Cambridge: Commonwealth of Learning/International Extension College.
Erdos, R (1967), Teaching by Correspondence, Longmans, London. Hall, B.L. (1978), Mtu ni Afya: Tanzania’s Health Campaign, in Information Bulletin No. 9. Washington D.C: Clearing House on Development Communication.
Hall, B. and Dodds, T. (1974) Voices for development: The Tanzanian National Radio Study Campaigns, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Hawkes, J & L. Woolley (1963), Pre – History and the Beginnings of Civilisation: History of Mankind, Cultural and Scientific Development Vol. I, George Allen & Unwin Ltd, London.
Jurich, Sonia (1999), “ Before the E – mail there was the P – mail: Distance Learning by Postal Correspondence” in www.TechKnowLogia.org visited on 25th May 2012.
Katoba, R. L and Kimathy, M (2005), “Distance Education and Networking Communication,” Paper Presented at a Workshop at Jilin University, Changchin, China.
IAE (1975), Act No. 12 of 1975, Dar es Salaam. Kabwasa, A and Kaunda, M M (Eds) (1973) Correspondence
Education in Africa, Longmans, London.
Kolimba, S, E. S. Kigadye and N. Z. Reuben (2011), “The Quest for Quality Assurance in Open and Distance Learning Practice in Tanzania”, Paper Presented at the National ODL Conference, Arusha.
Kombani, Selina Ompeshi, “Speech of the Minister of State, President’s Office, for the Inauguration of the Advisory Board of Tanzania Global Learning Agency (TaGLA)”, Dar es Salaam, 25th September 2012.
38
Mahai, L, N. Z. Reuben, N. Mbunda H. Kipasika & V. Gange (2009) “New Frontiers of Sustainable ODL Scholarship in the SADC Region: A Profile of Tanzania,” Country Report Presented at the 44th DEASA Annual General Meeting, Maseru, Lesotho.
Mattee, A.Z. (1994), “Reforming Tanzania’s Agricultural Extension System: The Challenges Ahead” in African Studies Monographs 15 (4), Dec. 1994, pp. 177-188.
MoCU – Fact & Figures on www.mocu.ac.tz visited on 10th February 2015.
Mmari, G. R. V. “An Idea Takes Shape: The Open University of Tanzania Early Days”, in Huria, Vol. I, No. 1, 1996.
Ntirukigwa, E.N. (1986), “Distance Education in Tanzania” in Muller, J. (Ed.) Learning Strategies for Post-Literacy: The Tanzanian Approach (DSE Workshop Series). Bonn: DSE.
Nyerere, J. K. “Speech to the Convocation of the OUT on the Occasion of Being Awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Letters (Honoris Causa)”, Dar es Salaam, 5th
March 1999.
OUT (2001), Undergraduate Studies Prospectus 2001, OUT, Dar es Salaam.
OUT (2014), Facts and Figures 2013/2014, The Directorate of Quality Assurance and Control, OUT, Dar es Salaam, June 2014.
SAEU (2007) Newsletter Issue No. 13: July 2007Shemwetta, D. T. K., S. Mwisomba and N. Z. Reuben, “Challenges of Adult and Lifelong Learning in the 21st Century: The Case of the Open University of Tanzania (OUT)”, Paper Presented at the Adult and Lifelong Learning Conference, Dar es Salaam, 17th – 20th November 2008. Sheung – wai, TAM, “Going Back to the Beginning: The Future of Open and Distance Education” in Reddy, V. V. & S. Manjulika (Eds),Towards Virtualization: Open and Distance Learning, Kogan Page India Private Ltd, New Delhi.
39
Tanganyika Territory (1930), Annual Report of Education Department 1929, Government Printer, Dar es Salaam.
Ibid (1962), Annual Report of Education Department 1961, Government Printer, Dar es Salaam.UNDP (2000), Tanzania Human Development Report: The State of Progress in Human Resource Development 1999, UNDP, New York. URT (1993), The Tanzania Education System for the 21st Century: Report of the Task Force, MoEC/MSTHE, Dar es Salaam.
URT (2004), Education Sector Development Programme: Adult and Non- Formal Education Sub-Sector, Medium Term Strategy 2003/04 – 2007/08.
www.tgdlc.go.tz visited on 12th February 2015.
Part 2: Convergence of Distance Education and Conventional
Learning: Innovations and Developments at the Open University of Tanzania
2.0 Introduction
This part explores innovations and developments at the OUT in the last two
decades, with a view to demonstrating the salient trends of the phenomenon of
convergence between distance education and conventional education. As hinted in
the previous part, the major challenge of the OUT is to vindicate its vision of
becoming a World – class university in the delivery of affordable quality education
by ODL. Major questions to raise in this regard, include can this noble objective be
realized solely by ODL? Assuming it cannot, do we have to abandon it in favour of
conventional delivery? In case this will be an unrealistic option, will the
“blending” of ODL and conventional delivery methods offer a more viable option?
40
What then is “blended learning”? Is it the convergence of distance and
conventional education? Is such a convergence a real phenomenon or a mirage?
This part will explore these and related questions, within the context of the three
dimensions underlying the process of mainstreaming of distance education. They
include the achievement of parity of esteem between conventional and distance
education; the convergence of the means of instructional delivery, student groups,
and types of institutions and the incorporation of distance education's constituent
elements, particularly its philosophy of outreach, into the mainstream education
system (Irele, 2005). We start by exploring the concept of blended learning as the
basis of the convergence.
2.1 Meaning of Blended Learning
Blended learning has been defined as the combination of offline and online
learning. Like any other blend, blended learning works because it combines two
things in a way that makes each better than they are on their own. In this case,
teachers’ talents and technology tools. Blended learning allows teachers to work
directly and closely with individual students and small groups, by harnessing the
adaptive power and precision of technology (http://educationelements.com/our-
services/what-is-blended-learning). Within this context, teachers symbolise
conventional education while technology tools represent ODL mode of
instructional delivery. However, this perspective is both an unacceptable
oversimplification of the nature of each of these instructional delivery
methodologies. For example, besides teachers and lecturers physically present in
classrooms, language and science laboratories, lecture rooms and theatres,
conventional delivery of education is often supplemented by audio – visual
41
technologies and materials. On the other hand, since the rise of the United
Kingdom Open University (UKOU) as the World’s pioneer Open University in
1969, “three way teaching” consisting of correspondence education, face to face
contact sessions facilitated by teachers and lecturers physically present in
classrooms, language and science laboratories, lecture rooms and theatres and
instructional delivery through electronic media, has been adopted as the basic
structure of instructional delivery in distance education. It can, therefore, be argued
that “blended learning”, is neither a recent phenomenon nor a novel experience. In
fact, it is a structural component of both conventional and ODL delivery modes.
As a result of developments in ICTs particularly from 1991, second
generation technologies (traditional ICTs like the telephone, Radio, TV, Audio and
Video Cassettes), have been enriched by wider use of Web and Online
technologies (modern ICTs). These developments have resulted in greater
interactivity and much higher level of personalization through technology
mediation and learning objects like desktop computers, laptops, ipads, mobile
phones, etc (Kanwar, 2013). However, even with this enrichment, “blended
learning” cannot be regarded as the basis of the convergence of these instructional
delivery modes. On the contrary, available literature traces the basis of the
convergence in the phenomenon of mainstreaming.
2.2 Mainstreaming
Among other sectors, the term “mainstreaming” is often used to capture
distance education repositioning within traditional universities (Irele, op.cit).
Repositioning has been pursued because the relationship between distance
education and conventional education has always been ambiguous. Initially,
distance education was put outside conventional education (Daniel, 1996). Later
42
on, it was described as being on the fringe of education, hence, second rate
(Holmberg, 1986; McIsaac, 1996; Jevons, 1987; Tait, 1999). Lately, based on its
growing use in traditional universities, distance education is described by
practitioners in conventional education as being “mainstreamed” into the
mainstream education system (Thompson, 1999; Allen and Seaman, 2003). As a
result of “mainstreaming” distance education in traditional universities, it has been
noted that these “ivory towers” are being transformed into “brick and click”
institutions (Materu, 2006). Viewed within this perspective, the convergence of
distance education and conventional education means the phasing out of the
former. Thus, blended learning is defined as “a formal education programme in
which a student learns at least in part through the online delivery of content and
instruction, with some element of student control over time, place, path and/or pace
and at least in part at a supervised brick – and – mortar location away from home”
(Bailey, et al, 2013). However, there are major issues that militate against the
mainstreaming of distance education into all relevant areas of the traditional
university system as well as educational mainstream. Peters (2002) provides
instructive insight into the tensions that arise when distance education systems are
introduced within traditional universities. He notes:
They have to deal and come to terms with fixed academic structures and conventions which are normally resistant to change and restrict flexibility. They have to assert themselves when trying to innovate and modernize not only the learning-teaching system, but also the mission and the sense of direction of the institution in order to adapt it to the requirements of a rapidly changing society (Ibid:146). This comment underscores the structural differences between the two
systems that are potentially problematic for the integration of distance education
into the mainstream education system (Irele, op.cit). Meanwhile, early views of
distance education as a distinct and separate form of education have largely been
replaced by the more acceptable explanation that it is simply "a component of the
43
wider enterprise of education and training" (Daniel, 1996:59). The core distance
education characteristics have been identified as the separation of teacher and
learner, the use of technology to bridge communication and the presence of an
institution (Keegan, 1996). Moore and Kearsley (1996) have re – packaged and re-
presented these characteristics from a systems' perspective by emphasizing the role
of the institution. Taking the cue from the systems’ perspective, distance education
system is not a series of separate entities, such as course content, and course design
and development, but a system of interrelated components that function together
under the auspices of “organizational and administrative arrangements” (Moore
and Kearsley, op.cit:2). But what is mainstreaming? OED Online (1989) defines
mainstreaming as the incorporation of a phenomenon into the mainstream activity.
In distance education, mainstreaming is said to reflect the process of integrating
distance education into conventional education (American Council on Education,
1996). Why should we emphasize integration of distance education into
conventional education and not the other way round? Several answers to this
question can be deduced from the following remarks:
Open and distance learning is often seen as barely legitimate. Its history is marked by the work of institutions that accepted student fees, gave them poor service and kept their costs down by encouraging students to drop out once they had paid all their money. Learning at a distance, particularly from printed materials, lends itself to rote learning. If teaching materials gives all the answers, then there is no room for an individual response while if it fails to do so the student may feel challenged but frustrated. Distance learning can be a soulless and isolated activity so that dropping out is more attractive than going on. Most parents and probably most educational planners would encourage their own children to study at a conventional university rather than in an open university. Few would argue that open and distance learning matches the best conventional education as sometimes practiced in rich universities in industrialized countries or in a golden age we think our grandparents might have been able to remember (UNESCO, 2002a).
44
It has been noted that the foregoing remarks explicate some of the perceptions on
the past history of ODL that challenge its sustainability (Muganda, 2010). The
perceptions indicate that some stakeholders are still confined to the narrow
definition of the methodology as correspondence learning mainly pegged to written
and printed word, hence, excluding other media such as radio, telecommunication,
face to face sessions and of late e – learning and video conferencing (Ibid). On the
other hand, a review of the literature reveals three dimensions to the mainstreaming
of distance education or convergence with conventional education. The first covers
the achievement of parity of esteem between conventional and distance education
(Jevons, op.cit; Lewis et al, 1999). The second addresses the convergence of the
means of instructional delivery, student groups and types of institutions (Miller,
1990; Hall, 1994; Keegan, 2000). The third is the incorporation (or integration) of
distance education constituent elements, namely its philosophy of outreach, use of
technologies and its teaching strategies, into the mainstream education system
(Kearsley, 1998) and into existing institutional policy frameworks (Innovations in
Distance Education Symposium, 1998). Mainstreaming (convergence of distance
education and conventional education) ought then to be measured by the extent to
which all the three dimensions are demonstrated. Presently, such a trend is still out
of sight.
However, why the obsession with blended learning? One reason is that
presently, practically all the Universities deliver some of their programmes within a
blended learning mode. According to Prof. Mbwette, Vice Chancellor of the OUT:
All of you will realize the immense and almost unlimited potential of our mode of delivery which is closest to the future of learning (as opposed to the practice of teaching through an archaic style of delivery of lectures that is now well on its way to the graveyards in all modern universities).To say the truth, is that, during the ongoing evolution of universities, all of us are moving or in fact we have already moved towards “the blended learning
45
mode” that combines limited face to face instructions with Open and Distance Learning (ODL) enhanced by Learning Technologies including Open Education Resources (OERs) and/or Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Soon, university “lecturers” will be replaced by “learning facilitators” and not even teachers. Gone are days of centralized teaching timetables or roll calls in university classrooms since so much knowledge is not even known by lecturers or teachers anyway nowadays.
Proven research has confirmed that the best learning is achieved when learner – centered learning is embraced by universities (Mbwette, 2013).
Virtues of ODL delivery mediated by ICTs, are well reflected in these
remarks. Among others, besides unlimited potential, it is the future educational
delivery mode, given that the current mainstream conventional delivery is on its way
to the museum of history. Consequently, it is to say the least, ahistorical, to conceive
mainstreaming as the process of integrating distance education into conventional
education.
It should, however, be stressed that “the blended learning mode” is an essential
evolutionary stage to online/e - learning which is the real future educational delivery
mode. As already hinted, among others, constraints of slow internet connectivity and
low bandwidth, continue to undermine efforts towards online/e - learning in most
institutions in developing countries. Meanwhile, the process of educational
delivery paradigm shift is far from being a peculiarity of universities in Tanzania
alone. A similar trend is quite apparent among conventional universities in
neighbouring Kenya, as discussed below.
2.3 ICTs and the Delivery of Higher Education in Kenya
Kenya is hoping to use digital and distance learning to cope with demand for
higher education, which has soared over the past five years as more and more
school - leavers qualify for university study. As a consequence, statistics from the
46
Communications Commission of Kenya, show that internet penetration in the
country rose by 4.3% to 41.1% in the first quarter of this year, a signal that the
country is heading towards an ICT- driven economy (Nganga, 2013). However,
most users access the internet through mobile phones. This means that the
government will have to offer internet cost subsidies to increase the use of PCs and
laptops among students, who are also mostly using mobile phones.
Currently, universities do not have nearly enough places to meet the demand
and it is hoped the use of computers will boost e - learning. This will enable more
students to pursue degrees through online learning, which is offered on a small
scale by several Kenyan universities. In July this year, the University of Nairobi
launched several degree programmes offered by its college of education and
external studies through distance and e-learning modes. The Vice Chancellor, Prof.
George Magoha said online open and distance learning was emerging as the next
frontier for delivery of educational services across East Africa (Ibid).
Considerable distance learning has also been happening at Kenyatta
University for the past 15 years, with the institution offering several undergraduate
and postgraduate degrees in education. Three years ago, Kenyatta University
renamed its Institute of Open Learning as the Institute of Open, Distance and e-
Learning. Meanwhile, the government is set to launch the Open University of
Kenya, which it hopes will help ease a backlog of at least 40,000 would-be
students who have been unable to secure a university place. The new institution
will enable students to follow lectures online from remote areas, interact with
lecturers, submit assignments and check grades. Lecturers will be able to upload
course materials online, post assignments and generate discussions via blogs (Ibid).
This almost Virtual Institution, will certainly emerge as a rare public university in
47
East Africa. For example, the OUT which is currently the only dedicated distance
teaching university in the region was established in 1992 and offers undergraduate
and postgraduate studies in a wide range of disciplines, is yet to undertake its entire
business through online/e – learning.
2.4 Innovations and Developments at the OUT
As way back as 1979, provisions were made for a Distance Teaching
Institute at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) which would employ a low –
technology resource package consisting of assignments, Long Vacation School and
Radio Programmes in its instructional delivery mode. The Institute was to develop
in phases to become eventually a separate distance learning based University,
using a multi – media package with local support through a Regional Network
(British Council: 51 – 52; Mmari, 1996). Although the OUT did not evolve along
this trajectory (Reuben, 2012), in its first decade of existence, its instructional
delivery mode was based on a low – technology resource package. For example,
the OUT started by using printed study materials from the University of Nairobi.
More materials were acquired from IGNOU, Abuja and later on ZOU. Later on,
OUT full – time and part – time staff (many of whom were recruited from UDSM
and SUA) developed course outlines and study materials for students.
Efforts to integrate ICTs in its operations can be traced back to 2004 when
the university formulated comprehensive structures such as ICT Policy, ICT
Master Plan and E-Learning Implementation Strategy (OUT, 2009 abc). The ICT
Policy stipulates clearly that the university aims to (i) enhance the use of ICT as a
main interaction platform between students and lecturers and (ii) transform all
study materials developed henceforth into an interactive format consistent with
Moodle Learning Management System (ICT Policy, 2009). Since then, sustained
48
efforts are going on to install computer laboratories for students in all Regional
Centres. Meanwhile, in order to improve students’ access to digital services,
OUTSO leadership has been supported by the OUT Management to negotiate with
a private company for the supply of laptops from China at USD 270 each piece.
This arrangement will enable every student to get a laptop at an affordable price.
As a result of these deliberate efforts, unlike in the first decade, ICT
infrastructure and access at the OUT, have improved significantly in the second
decade (Mbwette (2009). For example, a total of 4 Student Computer Laboratories
have been established in Dar es Salaam (at the OUT Headquarters and in each of
the three Regional Centres at Ilala, Kinondoni and Temeke). Furthermore, 12
Community Computer Laboratories and 18 Student Computer Laboratories have
been established in Regional Centres. Academic, Administrative and Technical
Staff have been provided with desktop computers and laptops with both online and
wireless internet connectivity. In this way, it has been possible to deliver study
materials to students, interact and provide feedback to them online (Mbwette, 2008
& 2009; Nihuka, 2011; Kissassi, 2012).To enhance the process of integrating ICTs
in teaching and learning, a Heavy CD burner has been installed in the Office of the
DVC (LT & RS). This has facilitated mass production of CDs containing study
materials and course outlines. These are provided to registered students in every
programme in all the Regional Centres each academic year. In short, the era of
printing, photocopying and freighting study materials in hard copies, is now
coming to an end as the OUT is being transformed into a “click/paperless
university”. An OUT member of staff has noted:
The ICTs are complex in nature and serve a rich array of functions. They have highlighted the enormous information of human interaction in teaching/learning process. Continuous interaction between students and faculty and among students is the most attractive idea enabled by the new
49
technologies. It is playing a major role in addressing the challenges faced by the OUT in rescuing isolated students from their loneliness by providing interaction with tutors and other learners; easy access to library and other online information resources, and in facilitating completion of research by postgraduate students and lecturers (Ahmad, 2013).
Presently, a significant portion of the Main Library collections is online. So
are the filing tracking and record keeping systems. Taken to its logical extreme, the
“click only” institution is transformed into a Virtual Institution, similar to the
Nairobi based and World Bank funded African Virtual University (AVU). In spite
of its special merits, a virtual institution is quite costly as in practice, it substitutes
print with online media as the lead media in instructional delivery. Viewed within
the context of the goals of ODL to massify educational access, participation,
completion and graduation rates on the basis of quality, equality and equity, it is
quite contradictory to dislodge print as the lead medium in ODL instructional
delivery. Moreover, distance education delivery is far less costly than e – learning
delivery. While the former enjoys economies of scale, the latter does not. With a
literacy rate of more than 80% and almost 100% Radio and TV reception, print and
traditional ICTs are not only accessible but familiar and more user – friendly to the
majority of ODL learners particularly in the rural areas. This is the context within
which the Client Service Charter provides for flexibility in instructional delivery,
by creating room for the use of blended learning:
As regards commitments to quality service delivery, the OUT is committed to deliver affordable quality service in academics (through) well maintained libraries, lecture theatres, laboratories, offices and other facilities to enhance provision of open, distance and blended learning using modern technologies as well as access to print media in recognition of the diversity of Tanzania and Tanzanians ( OUT, 2010: para 6.1 – 6.1.1) (our emphasis).
50
Besides application of ICTs in instructional methodology, administration,
record keeping and even assessment (ODEX), in this decade the OUT has
substituted tutorials in face to face sessions with Student Portifolio Assessment
(SPA). Similar to seminar sessions in traditional universities, face to face sessions
provided opportunities to OUT students to discuss issues raised in study materials
with facilitators and fellow students. On the contrary, under the SPA, each student
meets a Lecturer to present in writing the objectives, learning outcomes, difficult
areas, suggestions for improvement and references used in studying courses of
each Semester. Students with satisfactory level of comprehension are granted visas
to proceed with preparations for formative and summative evaluation. Those with
unsatisfactory level of comprehension are advised to continue studying the courses.
Previously, the OUT was operating as a single mode distance teaching
institution sensu strictu. Presently, besides continuing to offer most of its non –
degree and undergraduate programmes in this mode, it has started to offer some of
its postgraduate programmes under dual and mixed modes as well as under the
conventional education mode. While courses offered under the Executive/Evening
mode fall under conventional education delivery, those offered under the course
work (offered conventionally) and dissertation (completed at a distance), fall under
the mixed mode. Within this context, OUT qualifies as a dual mode institution as
the same programmes are also offered at a distance (MBA, MA (Ed), MA (Social
Work), MA (Sociology), etc). It should be stressed that in no way do these
innovations deviate the OUT from its ODL trajectory. They only show how the
Institution is addressing public demands for higher education by using
opportunities offered by the flexibility of its instructional delivery mode. The same
context accounts for the innovation of providing sitting facilities (Vimbwette) at the
51
OUT Headquarters and in Regional Centres, in order to allow students to study on
campus as in residential institutions. The Vision and Mission of the OUT bear
witness to this thrust.
VisionTo be a leading World – class University in the delivery of affordable quality
education through open, distance, blended learning, dynamic knowledge
generation and application.
MissionTo continuously provide affordable quality open and distance education, research
and public services for sustainable and equitable socio – economic development of
Tanzania in particular and the rest of the World.
Source: www.out.ac.tz
Incidentally, comparison with UDSM (see below), reveals striking
similarities. The only notable and significant difference lies in the listing of
institutional core functions. For OUT, the first core function is education or
knowledge dissemination. On the contrary, for UDSM, it is research or knowledge
creation.
VisionTo become a reputable World – class University that is responsive to national,
regional and global development needs through engagement in dynamic
knowledge creation and application.
MissionThe unrelenting pursuit of scholarly and strategic research, education, training and
public service directed at the attainment of equitable and sustainable socio –
economic development of Tanzania and the rest of Africa.
Source: www.udsm.ac.tz
52
Towards achieving its Vision and fulfilling its Mission, the UDSM
subscribes to . . . application of ICTs in the enhancement of academic delivery and
management (Ibid). Elsewhere, we have explored reasons which have compelled
UDSM to embark on a “brick and click” trajectory (Kolimba, et al, 2011).
Recently, it has been noted:
In many cases, traditional institutions rush to provide technology – enhanced learning or ODL, which is in contrast with their initial goals and strategies, in an effort to stay competitive in the field or for financial reasons. Financial reasons are usually the wrong reasons for implementing ODL or technologically – advanced learning. The costs are initially high, and with ever – changing technology, it could end up costing more than face – to – face teaching (Mnnaar, 2013).
It is quite apparent from the preceding account that ICTs bear a tremendous
potential to reshape the nature of study environments of both conventional and
distance teaching institutions. This is even more apparent from a myriad of terms
which are used to describe the various forms of learning through ICTs in literature.
They include web-based learning, computer-mediated communication, telematics
environments, e-learning, virtual classrooms, online learning, I-Campus, electronic
communication, cyberspace learning environments, computer-driven interactive
communication, distributed learning, borderless education, etc (Guri – Rosenblit,
2005). However, in spite of their immense potential, some writers have referred to
their implementation in academia as challenging the very existence of conventional
universities. Arnold (1999) argued that the new information technologies create the
appropriate scientific learning environments in the knowledge society, and given
this ‘it is an extremely small step that distance studies will take the place of face-
to-face studies in the future’ (Ibid: 2). According to Henk van der Molen ‘‘. . . in
the network society it is inescapable that the universities will have to deal with the
information and communication technologies (ICTs), not only for research but also
53
for education. Some even think that universities as educational institutions will
become totally virtual…’’ (van der Molen, 2001: vii). Others have related to the
ICTs as the new generation of distance education (Bates 1999, 2001; Garrison
1993, 1999; Niper 1989; Peters 2001). It will be recalled that Soren Niper (1989)
identified three generations of distance education; the first was correspondence
teaching; the second was multi-media teaching – integrating the use of print with
broadcast media, cassettes and to some degree computers; and the third generation
was identified with the new interactive communication technologies.
However, it should be stressed that in spite of the many advantages e-
learning provides for distance teaching purposes, even in developed countries,
distance education in most higher education systems is not delivered through the
new electronic media. On the contrary, it is provided through the more ‘traditional’
media of print and broadcasting. Meanwhile, e-learning in most universities and
colleges all over the world is not used for distance education purposes (Bates 2001;
Collis and Moonen 2001). In short, there are many erroneous assumptions
informed by exaggerated predictions regarding the future impact of the ICTs in
academia. It has, therefore, been stressed “Distance education at university level in
the last thirty years has prided itself for providing economies of scale as compared
to campus universities, while well designed ‘e-learning’ environments tend to cost
even more than comparable face to - face encounters” (Guri – Rosenblit, 2005).
Both ODL and conventional education institutions, therefore, are bound to
jeopardize their respective goals and strategies through indiscriminate adoption and
employment of online learning. While we cannot afford to ignore online media, it
is essential to blend them with offline media, hence, blended learning, in order to
reap better results. The following section explores further this contention, within
the context of the status of internet connectivity in Tanzania.
54
The Chancellor, Hon. Dr. Asha – Rose Migiro (MP) (seated third from the right), on the occasion of the 27 th
Graduation Ceremony at the OUT Headquarters, Bungo, Kibaha, on 25th October 2014. The Chancellor is flanked by (from right), Chairman of Council, Prof. Samwel Wangwe; The Second Vice President, Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, Hon. Balozi Seif Iddi (MP); the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Tolly S. A. Mbwette and Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), Prof. Eliphas T. Bisanda.
2.5 The Status of Internet Connectivity in Tanzania
Modern ICTs rely heavily on electrical power and internet connectivity
(besides expensive hardwares and softwares which are often vulnerable to viruses).
Reliable electricity supply is available to only 18% of the entire population, mostly
in urban areas. Access in rural areas where almost 80% of the people live, is about
4%. Internet connectivity is through the National Optic Fibre Network or
satellite/wireless connectivity from Mobile Phone Companies like VODACOM,
AIRTEL, TIGO, ZANTEL, TTCL, BENSON and SASATEL. By the end of June
2012, there were 28,024,611 phone subscribers in all mobile and wired networks as
detailed in Table 9 below:
Table 9: The Number of Phone Subscribers in TanzaniaCompany Subscribers
55
VODACOM, 12,317,029AIRTEL, 7,504,511
TIGO, 5,613,330ZANTEL, 2,356,457
TTCL, 227,424SASATEL 4,810BENSON 1,050
Total 28,024,611Source: TCRA Report (April – June 2012) in Hudson Katunza, “Tanzania phone users up to 28m” in www.biztechafrica.com
Presently, more than 50% of the entire population is accessible via mobile
and wired networks. By 2016, 38,000,000 people will be accessible representing
about 70% of the total population. However, infographic data as in the above
Table, may not represent correctly head counts as a result of most subscribers
owning two and more SIMCARDS. This may also be the case with the
comparative infographic data on Kenya and Tanzania given below.
Table 10: A Comparison of Infographic Data Between Kenya and TanzaniaData Kenya Tanzania
Population 44,037,656 48,261,942Mobile Subscribers 30,429,351 (69%) 27,395,650 (57%)Internet Users 16,236,583 (41%) 5,308,814 (11%) Source: iHub Research in Whiteafrican.com/tag/tanzania Data in the Table show that Kenya has a higher number of both mobile subscribers
and internet users than her more populous neighbour. While more than 50% of
Tanzanians can be accessed by phone, only 11% are accessible online. This is
certainly a significant challenge which ODL institutions need to address in order to
massify access, participation, completion and graduation rates in education and
training through online learning.
Internet services have been available since 1995 but there was no fiber
connectivity available until 2009. The construction of the fiber optic project
56
implemented from 2009 – 2010 (National Information and Communication
Technology Broadband Backbone (NICTBB), has improved internet connectivity
in terms of lower latency and cost. This resulted in a surge in internet speeds, with
download speeds increasing over 8 times. Before 2009, only larger businesses
could afford access to broadband connectivity in the form of dedicated fixed lines
costing between US $ 5,000 to US $ 10,000 a month. With SEACOM connectivity,
Tanzanians are paying as little as US $ 15 a month for high speed access, leading
to transformative effects on entrepreneurship, social life and education in the
country (Bremmen, 2012). However, although the Government of Tanzania spent
over 250 billion in investment of the national fiber optic, the NICTBB is not being
fully utilized to its full potential. The backbone is currently operating at less than
10% of its installed capacity and even lower at its design capacity. Among
Institutions which can enhance the exploitation of this potential are educational
institutions, both ODL and conventional (Kowero, 2012). In our opinion, ODL
institutions have a greater onus to exploit this potential due to the following four
reasons.
First, there is an exploding demand for higher education within the context
of massification, diversification, globalization, rising costs and ICTs (Kanwar,
op.cit). In 2007, there were 150,600,000 tertiary students globally. In 2012, the
number rose to 165,000,000. It is expected to reach 263,000,000 in 2025. To meet
the demand, 4 new universities to cater to 30,000 needed each week to
accommodate children who will reach enrolment age by 2025. This does not
include the needs of adults for new skills and lifelong learning opportunities.
Conventional education simply cannot meet the demand. Presently, access to
higher education is about 40% - 50% in OECD countries, 25% in the Caribbean,
15% in South Asia and 10% in Sub – Saharan Africa. East Africa is lowest at 8%
57
(Ibid). Secondly, there is a direct correlation between access to higher education
and development. In the case of Tanzania where it is still less than 1%, ODL
provides the most cost – effective means of raising it. In this context, ODL
provides the surest path to Big Results Now (BRN) in the education sector.
Thirdly, features of the fourth generation distance education, include
accessing and using Open Educational Resources (OERs), Massive Open Online
Courses (MOOCs) as well as resources from Open Educational Resources
Universities (OERUs), in instructional delivery. The availability and use of these
resources enable ODL institutions to develop instructional materials at a fraction of
the costs they were incurring under previous generations. It has, therefore, been
noted “. . . these trends hold great potential in African countries, where finances
are generally scarce and openly licensed resources offer the possibility of
providing cheaper access to high quality educational and research materials for use
in both schools and universities” (Butcher, 2013). While “branded” OERS,
MOOCs and OERUs can only be accessed online, ODL institutions can easily
download and repackage the “generics” in offline media for dissemination to
students. It is only ODL institutions which can avail to students appropriate
support services to students, for using these resources in the current Information
Age. Short of that, they will be misused under the existing and dominant
educational paradigms which were developed more than two hundred and fifty
years ago, to meet the needs of societies in the aftermath of the Industrial
Revolution (Ibid). Fourthly, the reputation of Open Universities and hence, ODL,
can be traced to the revolution of breaking the “Iron Triangle” of education and the
high quality of their study materials. Both achievements can be enhanced and
sustained through the adoption of fourth generation distance education media.
2.6 Views on convergence between ODL and conventional education
58
In a longitudinal survey involving random samples of staff and students in
an ODL and a conventional education institution, respondents were requested to
provide their views using an open – ended questionnaire, on ODL and
conventional education in Tanzania. The specific areas surveyed included the most
suitable instructional methodology; trends in convergence; parity in esteem;
attainment of the ODL goals, and relevance of the same to conventional education.
Regarding the most suitable instructional methodology, all the respondents among
ODL staff and conventional students, rated conventional education as the most
suitable instructional methodology. Among the ODL students, 66% rated ODL as
the most suitable instructional methodology, while 34% rated conventional
education as the most suitable instructional methodology. Regarding trends in
convergence, majority of the ODL staff and students (70%), acknowledged their
existence, while 30% denied the same. The trends noted by staff included some
typical ODL institutions like OUT conduct some of their courses in conventional
mode; ODL institutions are offering face to face courses and conventional
institutions are offering distance courses. ODL students identified the trends in the
forms of common educational aims/goals; common curriculum and products. All
the respondents (100%) among conventional students, acknowledged convergence
as all modes use a common curriculum and grant the same certificates.
Regarding parity in esteem, all the respondents among ODL staff and
students, observed that there was no parity. For example, staff noted conventional
delivery is dominating over ODL; it is a new instructional mode while
conventional mode is traditional. On the other hand, the students remarked
Tanzanians have a negative perception towards ODL. It is generally taken as a
poor alternative. Similarly, majority of the conventional students (80%) noted that
there was no parity between the two instructional modes as ODL learners look
59
inferior and the system is not common in Tanzania. Regarding the attainment of
ODL goals, majority of the respondents among ODL staff (95%) and conventional
students (75%), noted that it was not possible to attain them due to low completion
and graduation rates; most students are not able to access study materials, and
lack of appropriate technology and infrastructure. On the contrary, all the ODL
students found the goals attainable. Regarding the relevance of the same to
conventional education, all the respondents among ODL staff and majority of the
students (80%) noted that they were both unrealistic and unachievable as the
institutional mission and goals differ. However, majority of the conventional
students (70%) found the ODL goals relevant to conventional education.
2.7 Summary and Conclusion
This part has explored innovations and developments at the OUT in the last
two decades, with a view to demonstrating the salient trends of the phenomenon of
convergence between distance education and conventional education. This has
been done within the context of the three dimensions underlying the process of
mainstreaming of distance education i.e. the achievement of parity of esteem
between conventional and distance education; the convergence of the means of
instructional delivery, student groups, and types of institutions and the
incorporation of distance education's constituent elements, particularly its
philosophy of outreach, into the mainstream education system.
It has been shown that in spite of the innovations and developments
documented, convergence is yet to take place within the context of any of the three
dimensions of distance education mainstreaming. While acknowledging the
positive impact of online learning in enhancing the efficacy of both conventional
60
education and distance education, it has been cautioned that underdeveloped
infrastructure and resource constraints tend to undermine its effectiveness in
developing countries. It needs, therefore, to be supported with blended learning,
particularly offline media like print, poodle and traditional ICTs in the forms of
broadcast and recorded media. Finally, preliminary findings from an empirical
survey, tend to indicate that convergence between distance education and
conventional education is still elusive within the context of the three dimensions of
distance education mainstreaming. The final part of the essay, will explore relevant
aspects of quality assurance at the OUT, in order to shed some light on some
aspects of its “unfinished business”.
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Kanwar, A. (2013), “Trends and New Developments in Open Education”, Lecture Presented to OUT and IAE Staff, Dar es Salaam, August, 6th .
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Part 3: Quality Assurance in Open and Distance Learning Practice at the Open University of Tanzania (OUT): The Unfinished Business. 3.0 Introduction
Tanzania developed its first comprehensive education and training policy
(ETP) in 1995 after three decades of independence (URT, 1995). The policy
encompasses the entire education sector including the Non – Formal Education
(NFE) sub - sector. The policy stipulates that NFE constitutes Informal and Adult
Education covering literacy, post literacy, continuing education and higher
education. Furthermore, the policy provides for NFE to be recognized, promoted,
strengthened, coordinated and integrated with formal education and training
systems. This arrangement provides for a conducive environment for every
Tanzanian citizen to access education as a constitutional basic right as stipulated in
Article XI (2):
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Everyone has the right to self education and every citizen should be free to pursue education in every field of his/her choice up to the highest level of his/her merit and ability (URT, 1984).
Similar commitments are enshrined in the proposed National Constitution
(2014), scheduled for a referendum later this year. Contemporary Tanzania’s need
for ODL programmes is a result of government’s aim to improve educational
access, equity and equality. The adoption of policy strategies like Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), Education For All (EFA), National Development
Vision 2025, National Strategy for Growth and Poverty Reduction (NSGPR I &
II), Education Sector Development Programme (ESDP), and a number of sector
frameworks such as Education and Training Policy (ETP) 1995 (presently
supplanted by ETP, 2014), Higher Education Policy, Public Service Reform
Programme (PSRP, 1999), etc., testify to this commitment. It is, however, essential
to stress that this commitment will only be meaningful in case it will serve not as
an end in itself but rather as a means to lifelong learning and a knowledge society
(Mahai et al, 2009). Admittedly, knowledge has always been a factor of
production and a driver of economic and social development (Thirwall, 2009).
However, with the emergence of the knowledge society as a result of the pervasive
influence of modern information and communication technologies, knowledge has
become the key resource which is bringing about a fundamental reshaping of the
global economy (www.pragfoundation). In an increasingly global economy, the
effective creation, use and dissemination of knowledge is increasingly the key to
success and sustainable economic and social development that benefits all. In a
knowledge society, creating value is about creating new knowledge and capturing
its value. It is, therefore, the hearts and minds of people that are essential to growth
and prosperity. Consequently, workers at all levels in the 21st century knowledge
society need to be lifelong learners, adapting continuously to changed
67
opportunities, work practices, business models and forms of economic and social
organization (Ibid).
Although the need for lifelong learning and hence knowledge society is
obvious, the current education system and economic structures cannot engender
them for they have a tendency of marginalizing vulnerable segments of the
population, particularly women, rural dwellers, out of school youth, the
unemployed, pastoralists, etc (SADC, 2007). Open and Distance Learning (ODL)
rather than conventional learning, commands a higher potential in engendering a
knowledge society and related socio – economic transformation benefits, as a
result of its inclination towards mass rather than elite learning. However, apart
from the SADC Protocol on Education and Training, the Region does not have any
comprehensive ODL frameworks or Strategic Plans for ODL. Similarly, many
SADC member states, Tanzania included, do not have national policies on ODL.
Nevertheless, a number of public and private institutions offer ODL programmes.
In this part of the essay, we will review relevant aspects of quality assurance in
ODL provision in Tanzania in general and at the Open University of Tanzania
(OUT) in particular, in order to highlight the unfinished business. We start by
reviewing the concept of quality.
3.1 Concept of Quality
As a multiple dimension concept, an objective definition of quality does not
exist. It has, therefore, been argued, “quality is just like beauty; it is in the eyes of
the beholder” (Harvey and Green, 1993). Normally, a distinction is made between
the following dimensions of quality (Ibid):
Quality as excellence. The emphasis is on high - level standards.
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Quality as fitness for purpose. Achievement of formulated goals. It
concerns the quality of the processes. However, this quality approach does
not assure achievement of the threshold quality, particularly where an
institution sets its goals too low, in order to easily achieve them. In this
context, we have to discuss concurrently the fitness for purpose and the
fitness of purpose.
Quality as a threshold. In this view, quality is seen as meeting
threshold/ceiling requirements. This quality concept often forms the basis
for accreditation decisions. However, while setting threshold standards
might hinder innovations, without compliance with the threshold standards,
a programme will not be accredited.
Quality as added value. This concept emphasises what happens to the
students. Education is about self – transformation of the student. Quality
means, therefore, the value added to the student during education and
training, in terms of knowledge and skills.
Quality as value for money. This quality concept has its focus on efficiency.
It measures outputs against inputs. It is often a concept supported by
governments as it is connected with accountability.
Satisfaction of the client. With the rise of the concept of the "student as a
consumer", quality is described as: "something has quality when it meets the
expectations of the consumer; quality is the satisfaction of the client" (Ibid).
As indicated in Figure 1 below, each of the dimensions is emphasized by specific stakeholders.
69
Figure 1: Different Dimensions of QualitySource: IUCEA, 2007:29
With so many stakeholders and players in the field, "Quality is a matter of
negotiating between the stakeholders" (Barnett 1993). In this negotiation process,
each stakeholder needs to formulate as clearly as possible, his/her requirements. The
university or faculty, as ultimate supplier, must try to reconcile all these different
wishes and requirements. As far as possible, the requirements of all stakeholders
should be reflected in the mission and goals of an institution, objectives of a faculty
and of the educational programme. This is the context within which we can finally
determine the quality of a specific programme (Figure below).
70
Requirementsstakeholders:1. Government2. Employers3. Society at large4. academia5. students
TranslationRequirements
in goals and aims
Educationalprograms
research
Communityoutsource
QUALITY
Achievingour goals
=
Figure 2: Quality Assurance: An Object of Negotiation BetweenRelevant Parties
Source: IUCEA, 2007:31
In this essay, quality is conceived within this broad context. On the other hand,
quality assurance (QA) has been defined as:
a programme for the systematic monitoring and evaluation of the various aspects of a project, service or facility to ensure that standards of quality are being met (Gast, 2009).
Common QA procedures for internal institutional audit include:
Self - study or self - evaluation.
Peer review by an expert panel.
Use of relevant statistical information and performance indicators, such as
completion rates, overall grades and profitability.
Surveys of key stakeholders such as students, graduates and employers.
These procedures are generally used in combination to provide a comprehensive
set of data about what is occurring and the level of its success. However, sound QA
71
practices supplement internal self - audit with external assessments. Professional
QA bodies can monitor an institution’s systems through external review. There are
also independent or integrated education organizations that promote and support
quality improvement, that may produce best practice guidelines or provide support
networks for practitioners. Associations of education providers, such as the British
Association of Open Learning, the Canadian Association of Distance Education
and the Norwegian Association of Distance Education, establish voluntary
standards and accept a code of practice (Kirkpatrick, 2012). In the case of
Tanzania, such a role can be assumed by the Distance Education Association of
Tanzania (DEATA).
From the early 1990’s many governments adopted an explicit role in QA,
outlining policies and practices and establishing national or regional agencies. In
the United Kingdom and Argentina, government funding for education is also
linked to quality. The focus of these national QA systems varies. In England and
Scotland it is on teaching effectiveness, while in Hong Kong it is on management
processes. In the United States, QA relies heavily on accrediting agencies such as
the US Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education
Accreditation (CHEA), while Mexico emphasises research productivity (Ibid). In
the case of Tanzania, these and related roles are assumed by mainstream
educational regulatory authorities including Tanzania Commission for Universities
(TCU), National Council for Technical Education (NACTE) and the Vocational
Education Training Authority (VETA).
In spite of its multi – dimensional aspect, quality in ODL is frequently
judged in terms of learning materials (Ibid). This is the case as similar to the
traditional mode, student learning is at the centre of the ODL experience. Success
72
depends on how effectively course production, delivery and student support sub-
systems operate, underpinned by academic standards and management processes
(Ibid). All in all, in order to ensure that the diverse interests of all stakeholders are
well accommodated in an ODL programme, it is recommended that a framework
for managing ODL quality should address the following (Ibid):
General philosophy: Policy and mission statements, ethos and culture
of the organisation, mottoes, attitudes of staff and levels of staff
commitment.
Products: Learning materials, courses, resources, media, outputs
(progression and retention rates, number of graduates), assessment
outcomes ( pass rates, standards of performance).
Services: Registration and advisory services, tutoring, counseling,
feedback and guidance on learning, support for learner progress,
provision and management of study centres and resources, customer
service, ICT help desks, responsiveness to issues.
Support processes: Delivery systems, record keeping, scheduling,
electronic backup, warehousing and stock control, QA procedures.
Below, we shall review existing ODL programmes in Tanzania, with special
emphasis on their support processes in general and QA procedures in particular.
3.2 A Review of Existing Programmes
The relevant programmes include:
(i) Moshi University College of Cooperative and Business Studies
(MUCCoBS).
(ii) Institute of Adult Education (IAE).
(iii) INADES – Formation.
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(iv) Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA).
(v) Southern Africa Extension Unit (SAEU).
(vi) The Tanzania Global Development Learning Centre (TGDLC).
(vii) Distance Education Association of Tanzania (DEATA).
(viii) The Open University of Tanzania (OUT).
(ix) University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM)
A review of the programmes done in Part 1, shows how ODL institutions and
programmes can easily defy time, space, geographical and even socio – economic
barriers in order to massify access to educational and training opportunities
(Kolimba et al, 2011). This thrust is in line with the essence of ODL which is to
promote mass learning and not to train an elite. Incidentally, ODL’s appeal to
politicians and policy makers is mostly informed by and restricted to its capacity in
massifying access to educational and training opportunities with minimal cost.
Thus, “the low tuition fees are a reason often mentioned by students as the most
important reason to study at the OUT” (Twaakyondo, 2008). While completion
rates, graduation rates, cost – efficiency and cost – effectiveness, skill development
and post – graduation performance constitute the traditional measures of success in
education, the production of independent and self – directed learners is an
additional, if not a critical criterion of quality in ODL. In spite of these potential
virtues, it has been cautioned that available student enrolment and completion data
raise serious questions on equity, quality and sustainability of ODL programmes in
Tanzania (Komba, 2007). This is the context within which a review of existing
quality assurance mechanisms is essential.
3.3 Existing Quality Assurance Mechanisms
A review of ODL institutions in the country show that none has put in place
structures for assessing quality within the three – pronged approach – internal
74
quality assurance mechanism, evaluation by peers and accreditation by an
independent and competent organization. As a matter of fact, only structures for
internal quality assurance and accreditation by independent and competent
organizations are available in most institutions. However, presently, ODL
institutions are accredited by mainstream regulatory authorities like NACTE and
TCU. In India, besides the National Assessment and Accreditation Council
(NAAC) which is the equivalent of TCU, a Distance Education Council has been
set up under IGNOU, to regulate open and distance learning universities and other
higher educational ODL institutions in the country (Gandhe, op.cit). In the absence
of such a Council, it is obvious that a structure for evaluation by peers is missing in
the case of Tanzania. On the other hand, institutional availability of the basic
elements of internal quality assurance notably Quality Assurance Unit (QAU),
Staffing, Policy and Procedures (teaching and learning; study materials
development; staff recruitment; students’ admission; assessment; certification and
awards; research and publications) and Monitoring Tools (Open Performance
Review and Appraisal System (OPRAS), Directorate of Examinations’ Syndicate
(DES), ICT infrastructure and Needs Assessment Questionnaires and Clients’
Service Charter), is illustrated in Table 11 below:
Table 11: Institutional Status of Internal Quality Assurance
Institution QAU Staffing Policy/Proc Monitoring
Tools
Remarks
IAE N/A N/A A N/A Undedicated
TGDLC N/A N/A A N/A “
MUCCOBS N/A N/A A N/A “
75
INADES F N/A N/A A N/A “
SUA A A A N/A “
SAEU A A A N/A “
OUT A A A A Dedicated
DEATA N/A N/A N/A N/A Civil
Society
UDSM A A A N/A Undedicated
Source: Kolimba et al, 2011:33.
Key
A – Available
N/A – Not available
The Table shows that it is only the OUT which has put in place a comprehensive
internal quality assurance mechanism.
. . . the OUT has created the Directorate for Examination Syndicate solely dedicated to examinations. This directorate has a specific department responsible for records and qualifications. The OUT has also strengthened its unit responsible for quality assurance by recruiting full time officers responsible for monitoring and evaluation. The university has also formulated policies and operational procedures for quality assurance, research and publication, consultancy, study materials development, admission and registration, ICT, Human Resource Management and student affairs. The OUT has also developed its Clients Service Charter that seeks to improve service delivery to the university students and other stakeholders of the open and distance learning (OUT, 2011).
In April 2011, a team of external assessors noted that “whereas in 2004 the quality
assurance unit did not even exist, it is now gradually assuming its place in the
institution. QA policy and guidelines have been drafted together with stakeholders
and the unit is now staffed (Rakels and Jensen, 2011: 37).
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Lack of comprehensive internal quality assurance mechanisms among other
ODL providers in the country may be attributed to their status as undedicated
distance teaching institutions. As a dedicated distance teaching institution, the
OUT cannot, therefore, afford to operate without a comprehensive quality
assurance mechanism. What then constitute the “unfinished business” in the case
of the OUT’s quality assurance system? Although the OUT has put in place a
comprehensive quality assurance system, it has been cautioned that available
student enrolment and completion data raise serious questions on equity, quality
and sustainability of ODL programmes in Tanzania (Komba, op.cit). For example,
although ODL provides flexibility in learning, women participation rate in ODL
programmes is significantly low. Completion rate is also very low. At the OUT, an
institutional review report has noted the need “. . . to investigate on the facts and
figures related to student drop – out rates, graduation rates and on the involvement
of more females. The low numbers of active students and of female students are
worrisome . . . ” (Rakels and Jensen, op.cit:11). Besides low female enrolment,
production of independent and self – directed learners remains elusive as a critical
criterion of quality in ODL practice at the OUT.
Lack of parity between cumulative enrolment at non – degree, undergraduate
and postgraduate levels (27,558, 48,526 and 16,940 respectively), illustrates this
contention (OUT, 2014, op.cit). Cumulative enrolment at undergraduate level
shows that more than 43% of the students are not recruited from OUT’s non –
degree programmes, including the Foundation Course, Diploma in Primary
Teacher Education, CYP Diploma in Youth Work in Development and Diploma in
Distance Education and Open Learning (ODDEOL). As regards postgraduate
studies, available data indicate that majority of OUT graduands do not proceed
with graduate studies at the OUT. For example, while the LLB programme attracts
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a huge proportion of students in the Faculty of Law, LLM was one of the least
popular courses at the OUT until 2009/10. In fact, the postgraduate diploma in
law attracted more students than LLM programme; cumulatively, nearly nine times
larger than the enrolment into the LLM (Ibid: 24 - 25). However, programmes
whose mode of delivery is supplemented with face to face teaching and learning,
tend to attract significant enrolment. For example, besides MSc (CED), the MBA
programme is the most popular with a total enrolment of 4100 since 2002. In this
programme, the annual enrolment increased by more than tenfold between 2002
and 2004, largely because of the introduction of coursework and dissertation
components; and face to face mode of teaching and learning in evening or
executive modes (Ibid: 24). However, the MBA enrolment reached a pinnacle in
the year 2007 and registered a downturn after that year possibly due to
conventional universities introducing a similar programme and introduction of
rigorous check of ownership of dissertation and theses at OUT (Ibid). MSc (CED)
mode of delivery was also largely based on face to face mode of teaching and
learning. It was introduced and run as an offshore programme of USA based
Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), until it was handed over to the
OUT. Figures 3, 4 & 5 below, illustrate enrolment at non – degree, undergraduate
and postgraduate levels.
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Figure 3: Actual Enrolment Distribution
Figure 4: Expected Enrolment Distribution
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Figure 5: A Comparison of Actual and Expected Enrolment Distribution
Furthermore, a lot remains to be desired from non - degree programmes
whose cumulative enrolment from 1996 – 2013/14 is 27,558. For example, in spite
of the fact that the OFC enrolment has exhibited an increasing trend since its
inception in 1996, it is yet to register the desired impact in a country with
significantly low enrolment rates in primary, secondary and tertiary education as
illustrated in Table 12 below.
Table 12: Enrolment Rates in Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Education
Education Levels TZ Kenya Ghana S.
Africa
Primary School Completion
Rate (%)
85 93 71 92
Progression to Sec. School (%) 58 72 87 88
Tertiary Enrolment (%) 1.48 2.75 5.84 15.41
Source: CPP (2009), Tanzania National Competitiveness Assessment, Dar es
Salaam.
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In the specific case of the non – degree distance education programmes,
there is a missing link between CCDE and ODDEOL. For example, the total
number of students enrolled in CCDE since 2006 is 13, while those admitted in
ODDEOL over the same period is 151 (OUT, 2011: 27). CCDE and ODDEOL
programmes are designed to offer knowledge and skills for self – instruction,
organization and management of distance education and open learning
programmes and institutions. On the other hand, empowering pupils in primary and
secondary schools with self – instructional skills and study materials in
Mathematics, English language and Science can improve tremendously the
teaching and learning environment at all levels of the education system in
Tanzania.
Lack of parity between enrolment figures at non – degree, undergraduate
and postgraduate levels may mean that ODL practice at the OUT is far from being
“a diploma mill” but rather “a spinning door”. While “a diploma mill” turns out
unqualified graduates, “a spinning door” offers admission to students who
eventually drop – out of studies, mostly due to lack of adequate support services
(HEAC, 2005:5). In the following section, we will proceed to explore the need and
features of a comprehensive quality assurance framework, in order to show how
quality study materials can effectively mitigate the spectre of an ODL institution
from turning into either “a diploma mill” or “a spinning door”.
3.4 The Need and Features of a Comprehensive Quality Assurance
Framework
Areas of quality concern in ODL include curriculum design, content and
organisation; teaching, learning and assessment; student progression and
assessment, and student support and guidance (Gandhe, op.cit). Besides areas of
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quality concern, assessment of quality in education in general and ODL in
particular, has a three – pronged approach – internal quality assurance mechanism,
evaluation by peers and accreditation by an independent and competent
organization. Any ODL institution is expected to adhere to this comprehensive
approach in its quality assurance process (Ibid). Furthermore, while completion
rates, graduation rates, cost – efficiency and cost – effectiveness, skill development
and post – graduation performance constitute the traditional measures of success in
education, the production of independent and self – directed learners is an
additional, if not a critical criterion of quality in ODL (Babyegeya, 2009). To
achieve set objectives and meet stakeholders’ satisfaction, the learning process has
to be designed in a manner in which inputs, process and outputs are based on
international as well as national quality assurance benchmarks and well elaborated
learning outcomes, which will yield achievements for stakeholders’ satisfaction.
Inputs towards expected learning outcomes include programme specification;
quality of staff; quality assurance in teaching and learning, graduates’ profile.
Other inputs are reflected in the Learning Process Model below:
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Figure 6: Learning Process Model
Source: Gast, 2009.
Furthermore, for the learning to be effective and in order to create maximum
long-term impact in activities, the learning process has to be contextualised within
the organisational learning cycle as shown below:
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Figure 7: Organisational Learning Cycle Model
Source: Gast, 2009.
On the basis of the organizational learning cycle, a relevant learning process
in ODL has to be based on a deliberate desire for change. Learners should be
assisted to acquire awareness for change through insights and critical reflection of
past trends; willingness to change after appreciating underlying challenges and
needs; correct orientation on desirable future options, in order to choose/decide for
change. Furthermore, the learning process has to capacitate learners with
knowledge, skills and values to implement change successfully. Besides these
virtues, learning processes organized within the context of the organizational
learning cycle, mitigate effectively the adverse hallmarks of ODL (Komba, op.cit):
(i) Misinformation, low quality provision, bogus institutions, “diploma
mills” and qualifications of limited validity.
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(ii) Non - transferability of credits between institutions within and among
countries.
(iii) Lack of international validity and portability of qualifications earned
through ODL programmes.
(iv) Lack of transparency, coherence and fairness of procedures used for
recognition of qualifications earned through ODL programmes.
Learning processes organized within the context of the organizational learning
cycle, enable ODL institutions, quality assurance and accreditation agencies,
qualification recognition and credential evaluation agencies, advisory and
information centres, professional bodies as well as governments arrive at policies
which will protect learners from the foregoing practices.
On the other hand, besides organisational aspects, the quality of an educational
system can be gauged from students’ enrolment, persistence, drop – out and
graduation rates; tracer studies; feedback from employers and the general public
and quality of instructional system/study materials. Students’ enrolment data
provided for each institution are quite encouraging. This is apparent from a review
of existing programmes as already done. It should, however, be admitted that in
spite of ODL’s popular appeal, the quality of its services is questionable. Two
reasons tend to account for this concern. First, most ODL institutions can only
provide and sustain limited face to face interaction with students, and secondly,
students admission caters for candidates with lower cut – off points than in
conventional institutions.
It should, however, be stressed that indiscriminate use of face to face contact
sessions may compromise the status of ODL, besides denying it economies of
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scale. Furthermore, to ensure that educational standards in terms of achievements
are not compromised, deliberate efforts are made to ensure that “low entry criteria”
do not translate into “free exit”. Meanwhile, ODL institutions should not become
either “diploma mills” or “spinning doors”.
Furthermore, it should be admitted that in most ODL institutions and
programmes, data on persistence, drop – out and graduation rates are either
unknown, classified or inversely proportional to enrolment targets. What can be
inferred from this situation is that besides high students’ enrolment levels, ODL
institutions are also characterised by high levels of inactive/passive and drop – out
rates. While the assessment of quality is problematic, measures of drop – out are
one proxy for a measure of quality (Perraton, 2007). If education is interesting,
affordable and clearly relevant to the students, then they are likely to persist and
complete all the cycles (Ibid). The onus of making education interesting and
clearly relevant to students rests with the respective institutions. Admittedly, this
aspect has several dimensions. Here we will deal with the role of study materials
in enhancing persistence and graduation rates in ODL.
Teaching in ODL is characterised by the separation of the teacher and learner,
and of the learner from the learning group, with the interpersonal face to face
communication of conventional education being replaced by a mode of
communication mediated by technology (Keegan, 2001). While the quality of
learning achieved is related to the quality of the learning materials provided by the
ODL system, the propensity to drop out from the programmes by the enrolees can
be attenuated by the planning of quality learning materials (Sukati, 2009:10).
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Important areas requiring critical assessment in order to determine the quality of
study materials include content, presentation and learning (Ibid). Content requires
assessment of aspects like alignment with curriculum demands; satisfactory
treatment of content; expertise for content development; accuracy, currency and
authenticity of content. Presentation covers aspects like organisation of
instructional materials, pacing of content, ease of use and readability of
instructional materials. Finally, learning covers areas like interactive learners’
activities, assessment strategies, motivational strategies, learners’ guidance and
support (Ibid). In the specific case of the OUT, it has been noted “For an Open
University, operating largely in correspondence mode, study materials are of
critical importance as they replace to a large extent the role of the teacher. The
provision of quality materials is thus a must” (Rakels and Jensen, op.cit: 48).
Regarding the quality of materials, the institutional review asserts “. . . opinions
vary strongly. OUT makes use of self – developed materials, but also of materials
from partner institutions in Kenya, Nigeria and India. While some are perceived to
be of good standard, a commonly heard complaint is about contextualisation.
Examples and exercises focus on the situation in the country of origin and do not
necessarily match the context in Tanzania.” (Ibid: 49). The report concludes, “it is
strongly advised that OUT steps up its quality control over study materials. In
terms of availability, timely supply and quality of content, there is room for
improvement. Use should be made of digital learning resources over the openly
and without cost as open educational resources (OERs) (Ibid). It is strongly
recommended for other ODL providers in the country to carry out similar audits on
their study materials. In the specific case of Tanzania, this role can easily be
assumed by DEATA. Meanwhile, joint ventures in the design, production and
dissemination of distance learning materials will help reduce the cost of education
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and training by maximising on the economies of scale offered by the ODL
approach (Komba, op.cit).
In the light of the foregoing audit, the OUT has committed itself to deliver
affordable quality academic services through well maintained libraries, lecture
theatres, laboratories, offices and other facilities (OUT 2010b: para 6.1.1).
Furthermore, the OUT is striving to enhance provision of open, distance and
blended learning using modern technologies as well as access to print media in
recognition of the diversity of Tanzania and Tanzanians (Ibid). Finally, the OUT
Library shall ensure availability of the most up – to – date teaching and learning
materials as well as access to relevant electronic sources (at the OUT
Headquarters and in Regional and Examination Centres) (Ibid: para 6.1.4).
Acquisition of adequate levels of Computer/Information literacy skills among staff
and students is mandatory in order to ensure effective implementation of these and
related measures. With these measures, ODL provision at the OUT will certainly
tackle the unfinished business in two crucial areas. Firstly, in stepping up student
enrolment, participation, completion and post – graduation rates. Secondly, in
grooming independent and self – directed learners. Furthermore, these measures
will free ODL practice at the OUT from the spectre of turning the institution into
“a diploma mill” or “a spinning door”. However, besides internal measures, it is
also essential to address factors undermining ODL provision within the external
environment in order to free completely ODL practice at the OUT from existing
deficiencies in quality assurance. Among other measures, this requires putting in
place mechanism for accreditation by independent and competent ODL
organisations like the African Council for Distance Education (ACDE). Presently,
similar to other tertiary and higher learning institutions, the OUT is accredited by
mainstream regulatory authorities only i.e. Tanzania Commission for Universities
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(TCU) and National Council for Technical Education (NACTE). Similarly, the
OUT should address fully the needs and concerns of all the stakeholders of quality
in higher education.
Computer Literacy Students attending a session in the ICT Laboratory at Mwanza Regional Centre.
3.5 Summary and Conclusion
This part has identified and discussed areas which constitute the “unfinished
business” in the quest for quality assurance in ODL provision at the OUT. Besides
student enrolment and completion rates, they include production of independent
and self – directed learners and the need to address fully the needs and concerns of
all the stakeholders of quality in higher education namely the State, Employers,
Academia, Students, Parents and Society at large. This part has also proposed
measures with which to tackle the unfinished business. Once this task has been
effectively addressed successfully addressed, the OUT will assume effectively its
cardinal role of propelling the country to a knowledge society. Similarly, it will
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replicate the success story of the United Kingdom Open University (OU), from
which we draw the last word in this essay:
The Open University (OU) was rated top university in England and Wales for student satisfaction in the 2005 and 2006 United Kingdom government national student satisfaction survey, and second in the 2007 survey. Out of 132 universities and colleges, the OU was ranked 43rd in the Times Higher Education Table of Excellence in 2008, between the University of Reading and University of the Arts London; it was rated highly in specific subjects such as art history, sociology (below Oxford and Cambridge) and development studies. It was ranked overall as a nationally top forty, and globally top five hundred university by the Academic Ranking of World Universities in 2011, as well as being ranked 247 for citations of its academics.The Open University is also one of only three United Kingdom higher education institutions to gain accreditation in the United States of America by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, an institutional accrediting agency, recognized by the United States Secretary of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (wikipedia.org/wiki/open university visited on 17th September 2012).
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Delegates who attended the founding meeting of the Open Learning and Distance Education Association of Eastern Africa (OLDEA - EA), held at Tanzania Episcopal Conference Centre, Kurasini, Dar es Salaam, in September, 1998. The meeting was organized and hosted by DEATA. From the left, back row, Delegate from Seychelles, Dr. Elias Chakwera (Malawi), Mr. Neville Z. Reuben (DEATA Vice President), Delegate from Uganda and Dr. Egino Chale (RIP) (DEATA President). From the left, front row, Delegate from Malawi, Mr. Irenei C. Mbenna (DEATA Treasurer), Prof. Satoki Mahenge (RIP) (DEATA Member), Ms. Juliana Bbuye (Uganda) and Delegate from Kenya.
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