Abstract
M.Ed.
According to government reports in the White Paper education must be accessible to the total population of the Republic of South Africa.
Statistics indicate that a vast number of citizens have no qualification at all and a major part of the remainder only have a basic qualification. It is therefore vital that education be
available to all, and the most effective way of providing education is by means of istance education. In order to solve the education crisis by means of distance education, one has to address the variety of problems that will be encountered.
This study was intended to clarify some specific educational and personal problems encountered in distance education.
With four of the problems identified i~ mind, a relevant literature study was done. From the insight gained by means of the literature study a questionnaire was formulated and
distributed to ascertain the views of 7000 students. The students were all students at Technisa, the only technical college in distance education in the Republic of South Africa.
After the acquired information was analysed, an interpretation of the data was done. The findings produced the following important information:-
Students require study material with adequate information to enable them to work at an individual pace. Examples in the study material should be market related, and very
clear step-by-step procedures should be provided.
Lecturers should bear in mind that the students study on a part time basis, being employed during the day. For this reason unneccesary information is superfluous. Students also need extended time to finish a course.
The language should be comprehensible at the level the students have enrolled at, t .e. NI-level terms and concepts shou1d be used for an NI student ..
Alecturer should be able to express himsel f on paper and should provi de all the wri tten support needed by the student. This support and motivation should be fed back in
the shortest time possible so that the student will not be left in the dark with long time delays between submitting an assignment and receiving it back again.
Students need seminars/workshops by Technisa to enable them to put quest ions and queri es to their 1ecturer and to make contact with their fellow students. Such contact
will mot ivate the students and ensure that they do not feel alone or left in the dark by Technisa. The questionnaire also brought to light that the majority of students were first time correspondence/distance education students, and this proves that distance education should adapt to di fferent student I s needs to study and succeed
through distance education.