Abstract:
Distance Education Programme (DEP) was introduced in the 1970s by some Nigerian universities as an alternative mode to the conventional delivery. However, reports have shown that the programme has been bedevilled by low quality learning, unethical practices and mismatch between policy and practice. Previous studies focused on enrolment, retention and analyses of some factors for motivating distance learners with less attention paid to evolution, practices and challenges of the programmes. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the evolution, practices and challenges of the undergraduate DEP in dual-mode federal universities in South-Western Nigeria, 1974-2014.
Cognitive Dissonance, Independent Study and Transactional Distance Learning theories provided the framework, while historical and descriptive survey methods were adopted. The DEP of the three accredited dual-mode federal universities in South-Western Nigeria were enumerated, namely University of Lagos Distance Learning Institute (DLI), University of Ibadan Distance Learning Centre (DLC) and the Obafemi Awolowo University Centre for Distance Learning (CDL), Ile-Ife. Primary data included oral interviews with the centre / institute directors and archival materials of the National Universities Commission (NUC) and sampled institutions, while secondary sources included relevant textbooks, journal articles, bulletins, periodicals and unpublished Ph.D theses. Questionnaires were administered to the 77 tutors, 102 administrative staff and 959 distance learning students that were purposively selected based on their experience. Historical and descriptive methods were employed for data analyses
The DEP began in 1974 with the establishment of the University of Lagos Correspondence and Open Studies Unit which eventually transmuted to DLI in 1997. The University of Ibadan External Studies Programme later changed to the Centre for External Studies in 1988 and became DLC in 2002, the same year the CDL was established in Ile-Ife. Although the institutions ran DEP on part-time basis between 2002-2009, accreditation of courses by the NUC in 2011 transited the programmes to full-fledged practice. The period 2009-2014 featured improved institutional commitment, better compliance with the NUC guidelines, general increase in enrolment and a reduction of face-to-face interactions. The DLI, DLC and CDL organised orientation programmes for new students and packaged instructions into tablets, but conducted interactive sessions respectively at weekends, week days and two weeks to examinations. The weighted mean across the centres / institute was high against > 2.50 threshold in term of Capacity Development (CD), Learner Support Services (LSS) and Quality Assurance (QA) respectively. The mean values of DLI, DLC and CDL on CD, LSS and QA are (2.98 + 0.75; 2.84 + 0.85; 3.35 + 0.83), (3.10 + 0.75; 2.89 + 0.74; 3.35 + 0.50 and (3.08 + 0.85; 2.92 + 0.87 3.41 + 0.90) respectively. Despite constraints of low internet bandwidths and erratic power supply in the Universities, the undergraduate DEP had transformed from correspondence to a technologically-driven mode.
Within the four decades of existence, the undergraduate Distance Education Programmes in dual-mode federal universities in South-Western Nigeria had witnessed better regulatory framework and improved productivity in spite of infrastructural constraints. To enhance better practice of the programmes, all stakeholders should be more committed.
