The OER Knowledge Cloud makes use of cookies. By continuing, you consent to this use. More information.
Increasing education access through open and distance learning in Tanzania: A critical review of approaches and practices
Komba, Willy L M.

Published2009
JournalInternational Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology
Volume 5, Issue 5, Pages 8-21
CountryTanzania, Africa

ABSTRACT
With an area of 943,000 square kilometers, Tanzania has a population of about 34 million comprising more than 120 ethnic groups with diverse cultures and notable income differentials. Over 35 per cent of the people live below the poverty line which makes it difficult for an increasing number of people to access education at secondary, tertiary and higher education levels. The universalization of education and its worldwide acceptance as a continuous or lifelong undertaking, coupled with concerns about educational access and equity, as well as the prevailing level of poverty necessitates the use of various education delivery approaches to enable all citizens to benefit from this public good. The major objective of this paper is to document an discuss the initiatives that Tanzania has taken to expand educational opportunities at various levels using open and distance learning (ODL) approaches. The paper begins by explaining the socio-political context for ODL in Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar and proceeds to recount the distance education initiatives that have been established over time using both the longstanding traditional technologies and new media and technology. It then analyzes the opportunities and challenges in these initiatives. It ends with the proposal of how to improve both access and the quality of education using emerging educational technologies.

Keywords access to education · distance learning · open learning · quality assurance · Tanzania

ISSN1814-0556
RefereedYes
Rightsby-nc-nd/3.0
URLhttp://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/viewissue.php?id=23#Refereed_Articles
Other informationIJEDICT
Export optionsBibTex · EndNote · Tagged XML · Google Scholar



AVAILABLE FILES
EDICT-2009-859.pdf · 231.2KB33 downloads



Viewed by 168 distinct readers




CLOUD COMMUNITY REVIEWS

The evaluations below represent the judgements of our readers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Cloud editors.

Click a star to be the first to rate this document


POST A COMMENT
SIMILAR RECORDS

Technological developments and tertiary education delivery models: The arrival of MOOCs: Massive Open Online Courses
Shrivastava, Avinash; Guiney, Peter
This paper aims to assist the New Zealand Ministry of Education, the Tertiary Education Commission and other decision-makers in the tertiary education sector to gain a better understanding of the newer ...
Match: distance learning; open learning

Open Educational Resources: Access to knowledge — A personal reflection
D'Antoni, Susan; McGreal, Rory; Kinuthia, Wanjira; Marshall, Stewart
Match: distance learning; open learning

Access under siege: Are the gains of open education keeping pace with the growing barriers to university access?
Olcott Jr, Don
Traditional and affordable access to a university education is under siege from all sides. National realpolitiks and global economic downturns have driven open education into the mainstream to stand against educational ...
Match: distance learning; quality assurance

Quality assurance toolkit for open schools
Ferreira, Frances; Walker, Carol; Mhlanga, Ephraim; Biswas, Gopa; et al.
Open schooling is becoming increasingly prevalent in many developing countries. Enrolment numbers are rising rapidly, particularly at the secondary school level. But quality assurance remains limited. Open schooling ...
Match: distance learning; quality assurance; Africa

Current developments and best practice in open and distance learning
Trinidade, Armando Rocha; Carmo, Hermano; Bidarra, José; McGreal, Rory; Conrad, Dianne
Through the many documents regularly emitted by those dedicated to this activity, it is comparatively easy to describe factual developments in the field of open and distance education in different places in the world. ...
Match: distance learning; open learning

An international approach to quality assurance of new providers in higher education: The CHEA Quality Platform
Eaton, Judith; Uvalic-Trumbic, Stamenka
Higher education is undergoing deep transformations driven by increasing demand, high youth unemployment, rising costs and new uses of technology. These have triggered an unprecedented diversification of provision and ...
Match: open learning; quality assurance

Investigating perceived barriers to the use of open educational resources in higher education in Tanzania
Mtebe, Joel; Raisamo, Roope; Conrad, Dianne; McGreal, Rory
The past few years have seen increasingly rapid development and use of open educational resources (OER) in higher education institutions (HEIs) in developing countries. These resources are believed to be able to widen ...
Match: Tanzania; Africa

Approaches reflected in academic writing MOOCs
Kwak, Subeom
Since it was first introduced in 2008, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been attracting a lot of interest. Since then, MOOCs have emerged as powerful platforms for teaching and learning academic writing. ...
Match: approaches

Democratising higher education through OER - What are the possibilities?
Kanwar, Asha
International Conference on Science and Technology for Economic Diversification, Trinidad & Tobago, 7 June 2013, Democratising Higher Education through OER: What are the Possibilities? by Professor Asha Kanwar, ...
Match: access to education

Practical skills in AutoCAD through a mass open online course
Kaygorodtseva, Natalia; Luzgina, Valeriia; Cocchiarella, Luigi
Mass open online courses (MOOC) are popular recently. Their advantages are obvious: training at any time, from anywhere in the world, from the best teachers, with the help of quality content. But is it possible to learn ...
Match: distance learning