The use of mobile technologies in education has had a major impact on the pedagogy as known and understood by many academics in distance education institutions. Teaching using new technologies requires a variety of skills that are different from what most teachers are familiar with. Therefore, teachers need to be trained on how to use these new…

The main function of prison-based education is to prepare the inmates for return to society. Many higher institutions of education that offer distance learning have opened their doors to accommodate prisoners who want to further their studies. Thus far, many prisoners have received bachelor's degrees from different higher institutions of education…

This article reports on the relationship between seven factors that described dimensions of education service quality and overall service quality on one hand, and students' satisfaction with the professional teacher development programmes by distance mode in a South African University on the other. We sought to find out whether students enrolled…

Throughput and retention are important issues in higher education in South Africa mainly due to the stronger emphasis on accountability from funding agencies like the Department of Education. This study, which is set in a distance education institution, was aimed at understanding why students cancel courses early on in the academic year. A…

Supervision has been identified as an important factor in the success of postgraduate students, even as the most significant variable and a large number of studies have been conducted to identify factors that contribute to supervision success. However the dependent variable in these studies--supervision success--has been an elusive one to define.…

This article is contextualised within the field of post-graduate, continuing teacher education in South Africa, through an essentially "distanced", that is, part-time, mixed-mode teaching and learning model. It draws on a broader phenomenological research study into the experiences of students taking a one semester module, "Reading and Writing…

This article discusses an investigation conducted to identify challenges associated with teaching research methods in a distance education context. Constructivist learning was used as conceptual framework, in particular socio-constructivist theories, activity theory and Rich environments for active learning (REALs). Two research modules in a…

This article emanates from a comparative study of the quality of a B.Ed. (Hons) programme in contact and distance contexts in a dual-mode institution, in terms of access, delivery and output. Both versions of the programme are guided by a similar underpinning philosophy that drives its ethos. Even though it appears that there may be no prominent…

The idea of a diagnostic process to identify students likely to benefit from additional support originated from two separate investigations relating to the performance of entry-level mathematics students at the University of South Africa (UNISA). One project explored the relationship between reading skill and mathematical performance. This…

What constitutes successful practice for supervision of postgraduate students at an Open and Distance learning institution? In this article I describe a limited experiment in on-line teaching using a group of postgraduate students at the University of South Africa (Unisa). While the experiment has obvious limitations including the short time in…

This article looks at the way in which people perceive learning and the impact of these perceptions on teaching methods within the context of learning development in distance education. The context could, in fact, be any type of teaching and learning environment. The point is to balance approaches to teaching and learning depending on student…

There seems to be a belief world wide, that by going online and including learning technologies in learning packages learner success and economies of scale will be ensured in open and distance learning (ODL). Recent literature suggests that ODL and online delivery are regarded as synonymous. While the introduction of technology in the delivery of…

Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) have for long been celebrated as the solution to access in education. New innovations like the internet and mobile technologies provide a great opportunity for mass delivery of education information especially in Africa where governments and institutions are struggling to equip the people with much…

This article attempts to explore why and how student involvement is a necessary, but under-developed and under-utilised strategy for enhancing quality distance education in South Africa. Any critical analysis of education in South Africa needs to consider the historical and current social contexts, and in this case the analysis needs to explain…

In this response I argue that the notion of quality is embedded in the tension between powerful patterns of inherited epistemic and symbolic understanding and the dynamic of the creative, imaginative moments of understanding and design. This would take the idea of co-producer/creator of knowledge beyond the boundaries of (re)packaging commodities…