The Effectiveness of Tutorial program In distance education at the tertiary Level: the case of Alpha and Admas university college
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Date
2010-06
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Addis Ababa Universty
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of tutorial program in
distance education at the tertiary level with reference to Alpha and AdmasUniversity
Colleges.The populations of this study included administrators, tutorial coordinators,
tutors and students. In this study a total of 266 participants were taken as a sample. From
this sample 50 of them were tutors, 200 were students and the rest were administrators
and tutorial program coordinators. For a better understanding of the situation a mixed
research approach was employed.Questionnaireinterview,FGD,observationand document
analysis were used as means of data collection. Frequency, percentiles, standard
deviation, mean value and t-test were used for analyzing the quantitative data while the
qualitative data were thematically organized, categorized and examined to understand
the emerging patterns of responses. The findings of the study reveal that the tutorial
services provided by tutors were devoted largely to tutor’s verbal explanation of
descriptive facts. The current practice of distance education offering institutions of faceto
face tutorials are provided on voluntary bases. Students’ survey responses showed
dissatisfaction with the inflexible nature of the resources, insufficient academic support
provided and a preference for guided learning activities and participation in discussion.
It was found with satisfaction that learners have positive attitude towards tutorial and
distance education in general. Furthermore, from the responses of the tutors/students
there is evidence that confirms students are benefited from face to face tutorial. The study
indicated that the absence or shortage of the modules during students’ registration was
serious problem that negatively affects students’performance,causes delays in graduation
and students’ attendance and participation in tutorial sessions. The findings also reveal
that visual aids were not employed in the tutorial session. In addition to this the study
disclosed that no electronic media was employed to facilitate the student support service.
The absence of practical exercise and demonstration was found to be the defects of
tutorial session.Finally, basedon the findings and conclusions recommendations were
made to address the problem under study.
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Education