The Role of the Internet in Distance Learning Education (a Case Study of University of Abuja Centre for Distance Learning Education, Abuja)
Chapter One
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The major aims and objectives of this study is to find out the role of the Internet in distance learning education so as to determine whether distance learning is better off using traditional means of education which is face-to-face, with the teacher and the learner regularly interacting or using the Internet services.
Other objectives include:
- To determine the usefulness of Internet in distance learning education.
- To ascertain the level of computerization /automation of distance learning service.
- To acquire information and pursue research related to study.
- To determine the challenges associated with the application of the Internet in distance learning education.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Many research works have been done by people all over the world on the role of the Internet in distance learning education. This section of the study contains documentation of different written literature from various sources on the subject matter. These references made to previous research works form the foundation on which this project work is built on.
Ramirex (2003) carried out a study on the impact of the Internet on the reading practices of College students in National University of Mexico. The findings of the study reveal that there was a growing interest in digital reading and that a significant percentage of the surveyed students increasingly depended on the Internet for their school-related activities because it was easy and fast. Anasi (2006) investigated the pattern of Internet use by the undergraduates at the University of Lagos Main Campus Akoka, Lagos. She discovered that even though the level of Internet use was low among undergraduates from both the Faculties of Law and Education, the study showed that Internet use has a very high impact on the academic/career related activities of the students. In Iran, Seifkashami (2003) reported that the Internet was expanding very rapidly with tens of thousands of users, mostly academic as many universities computer sites to promote Internet use by both students and lecturers.
Studies have revealed that lack of information searching skills by students has been a significant factor hampering the use of computer and electronic resources. Gui (2007) advocated the need to teach information skills in institutions of higher learning as an urgent solution to this problem. According to him, ‘intensive efforts must be made to teach information skills to meet up with the hurried pace of information technology development’. Similar views were expressed by Ahmed and Cooke (2008) who wrote that utilization of electronic resources and the improvement of information skills requires continuous training programmes for end users.
Distance learning has to be all-embracing and comprehensive. Acquiring learning experience through independent inquiry of electronic resources materials is an integral part of the programme. This is because as the teacher and learner are separated in time or place or in time and place, the use of technical media including print, radio, TV broadcast, video, audiocassettes, computer and Internet resources are unavoidable. This explains why universities running distance learning programmes must have well equipped libraries with both print and electronic resources. Simamora and Gunawan (2002) findings show how the member libraries of the Indonesia Distance Learning Network have developed an electronic library to support the students’ learning. Mabawonku (2004) carried out a study on library use in distance learning in Nigeria, by surveying undergraduates in three Nigerian Universities. Her findings revealed that 62.3% of her respondents had never used video recordings while about 55.6% indicated that they had no access to audio-recordings. 6.8% always use the Internet resources while 79% used the computers regularly and 2.9% always used CD-ROM.
The findings of Kavulya (2004) in his study of distance education in Kenya showed that the students in the four universities studied had access to Internet resources. A study conducted by Rowland and Rubbert (2001) on the information needs and practices of Distance Learning Students in U.K showed that part-time students make use of electronic information sources. Their findings revealed that 12% of their respondents did not have Internet access at home and only 3% made no use of the Internet at all and over 75% of the respondents were familiar with search engines.
The use of the Internet for independent study and learning makes the distance learning degree programme of the same standard and quality like the regular/full-time programme. While several studies have been conducted on the use of Computer and Internet facilities by undergraduates on regular programmes in Nigeria and outside Nigeria, few studies have been carried out to survey the use of Computer and Internet facilities by distance learning students in Nigeria Universities. This study is also timely as the Federal Government of Nigeria through the National University Commission (NUC) has made it mandatory for all the university libraries to be stocked with relevant information materials including both print and electronic resources. This initiative was taken to allow students’ access to up-to-date, current information for learning and research purposes. It is therefore necessary to investigate the extent to which the University of Abuja distance learning students make use of the Internet facilities in the library, at home, in office, and cybercafés for Academic purpose. It is envisaged that the findings of this study would reveal the extent to which information technology facilities are employed in the teaching and learning processes. And also the findings of the study could also be used as baseline information for curriculum design and implementation on the best way to improve the quality of education most especially Distance Learning education in the Country.
OTHER RELATED STUDIES
Jegede (2003) carried out a Study on the opinions of experts and practitioners within the Commonwealth about open and distance education. The study used a total of 62 distance educators and practitioners from 23 countries of the Commonwealth who responded to a questionnaire. The results of the research indicated the need to concentrate efforts in almost all areas of distance and open learning. As part of a larger international study, his study reports on the views of distance educators in the Commonwealth on areas needing research; it also gives an order of priority to each research area.
Dominguez (2001) illustrated a new, parsimonious model that investigators interested in distance education can use to ask meaningful questions about the relative quality of distance education courses. The approach moves the emphasis from student-level data to course-based data. Sample data comparing online and traditional higher education courses covering nine disciplines were reported. These data revealed that preparation for advanced courses was statistically equivalent whether the course prerequisites were online courses or they are traditional classroom counterparts. The article further explored the usefulness of this framework for identifying a significant discipline-related difference in the relative effectiveness of online and traditional prerequisites as preparation for advanced courses.
Garrison (1999) contrasts large distance education programs in industry with an approach called “little distance education” that is consistent with the traditional goals and values of creating knowledge through a critical community of learners. It discusses meeting the needs of a new market for continuing distance professional education. The effects of distance education and its shortcomings are evaluated.
Merisotis (1999) discusses the Outcomes of Distance and Traditional Classroom-Based Learning. It embraced the question “What’s the difference between distance learning and traditional classroom-based instruction?” This question has become increasingly prominent as technology has made distance learning much more common. A web site maintained by Thomas Russell at North Carolina State University and a recently published companion book called “The No Significant Difference Phenomenon”, comprises of various articles, papers, and research studies on distance learning. This site also evaluates and compares relative strengths of traditional and distance education.
CHAPTER THREE
INTRODUCTION TO DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Data are facts, figures and other relevant materials, past and present, serving as bases for study and analysis. And data collection means obtaining useful information for the purpose of establishing a factual basis for making decisions.
Meanwhile, data analysis is a practice in which raw data is ordered and organized. Without an analysis of factual data, no specific inferences can be drawn on the questions under study. Inferences based on imagination or guesswork cannot provide correct answers to research questions. The relevance, adequacy and reliability of data determine the quality of the findings of a study and also reduce the likelihood of errors occurring. For this reason, it is important to pay attention when data analysis is presented, and to think critically about the data and the conclusions which were drawn.
This chapter focuses on methods used in data collection; it shows how the collected data was analysed and presents the result obtained from the data.
DATA COLLECTION
Data collection is the process of gathering and measuring information on variables of interest, in an established systematic fashion that enables one to answer stated research questions, test hypotheses, and evaluate outcomes. The data collection component of research is common to all fields of study including physical and social sciences, humanities, business, etc. While methods vary by discipline, the emphasis on ensuring accurate and honest collection remains the same.
For the purpose of this research project, both the primary and secondary methods of data collection were adopted to collect data. Many methods were used to collect data throughout this research work, but the major methods used in data collection were:
- Observation method
- Interview method and
- The use of questionnaires
CHAPTER FOUR
SYSTEM DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION
After collection and analysis of data, there is a great need to design and implement a system to show the role that the Internet plays in Distance Learning Education. This chapter deals specifically with the design and implementation phase of the system.
System design is the process of defining the architecture, components, modules, interfaces, and data for system to satisfy specified requirements through system modeling. And system implementation describes all the procedures or activities carried out to put the system into use.Some of the activities of this stage include identifying the hardware and software requirements, designing the user interface, system coding, testing and debugging of the system and documentation of the system.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION
The primary aim of this research work is to ascertain the role of the Internet in Distance learning Education, using University of Abuja Centre for Distance Learning Education as a Case study. This chapter elucidates the summary of findings, recommendations and conclusions of the whole study.
SUMMARY
Arising from this research work are some findings, and these findings are summarized properly as follows: The introductory aspect of this project describes the importance of the Internet in Distance Learning Education, aim and objectives,significance of study, scope and limitations of the study, research methodology used in carrying out the research works, as well as definitions of some terms used in the course of the study.
Chapter Two focused on the literature review including the basic concepts which described the views and opinions of different scholars regarding the meaning of Distance Learning Education and its importance to the education sector, and also the advantages and disadvantages of Internet in Distance Education to the students, lecturers, Institutions, and the society as a whole were discussed.
In addition, chapter three of this research work was based on the collection of data and the analysis of the collected data from respondents. In this chapter respondents were given opportunity to air their views through the use of questionnaires. The collected questionnaires were analysed. One major conclusion that can be drawn from the analysis is that the Internet is very essential for growth of Distance Learning Education.
Finally, Chapter Four explained how the system was implemented, tested and documented. This chapter also showed the requirements of the designed system, flowchart and some sample results of the project.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the findings and the conclusion that can be drawn from this research work, the following recommendations should be considered:
- Short computer training and retraining should be organized from time-to-time to assist both Staff and Students who have no or little knowledge in the use of the Internet and computer skills. This will also aid awareness of the Internet potentials and capabilities.
- It is recommended that further research should be carried out on this project within the University as it will be of great impact on the development of Distance Learning Educations and even to other sectors in the University.
- Effective and efficient power supply supplemented with standby generators should be provided to check the menace of frequent electricity power failure. In the same vein, the government should address the problem of erratic power supply more seriously not through military order but through research and development.
- More generous financial support should be made available to provide the basic Internetinfrastructural facilities within the school premises and even to Students that are in distanced locations to the University.
CONCLUSION
Base on the analysis of the collected data (questionnaires), the inevitable conclusion that can be drawn from this study is thatthe Internet plays a significant role in distance learning education by improving the flexibility and quality of learning. Also, the analysis showed that theInternet permits interaction and communication between lecturers and students irrespective of their geographical location and time disparities, thereby opening educational opportunity to every class of society most especially those deprived from the conventional face-to-face mode of learning.
REFERENCES
- Ahmed, K. and Cooke, L., (2008). Health care: personnel’s use of e-information resources in Riyadh governmental hospitals. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science,40. 3.
- Anasi, S. I. (2006). Internet use pattern of undergraduate students at the University of Lagos, Nigeria. University of Dares Salaam Library Journal, 8. 1&2: 1-13.
- Clark Richard (1991). “Reconsidering Research on Learning from Media” Review of Educational Research 53, no. 4: 445.
- Dominguez, Paula (2001). “Assessing Distance Education Course and Discipline Differences in Their Effectiveness”.
- http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0FCG/1_28/73535502/print.jhtml
- Gui, M. (2007). Formal and substantial Internet information skills: The role of socio-demographic differences on the possession of different components of digital literacy. Retrieved Feb.18, 2008, from
- http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue12-9/gui/index.html.
- JAMB (2009). JAMB Statistics: Application and Admission (UME and PCE) Retrieved April 30, 2009, from http://www.jambng.com.
