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Browsing College of Education by Author "Akuamoah-Boateng, C."
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Item Institutional Policies and Commitment for Supporting Distance Learners in Dual Mode Public Universities in Ghana(University Of Ghana, 2018-07) Akuamoah-Boateng, C.The aim of this study was to gain insights into institutional policies and commitment for supporting Distance Education (DE) learners in public dual mode universities in Ghana. The study was underpinned by Simonson’s theory of equivalency and a Policy analysis framework (PAF) for studying distance education institutions. The study used the convergent parallel design of the mixed methods in which qualitative and quantitative approaches were adopted. Six principal officers and 632 DE learners from the public universities were purposefully and conveniently sampled respectively to respond to interview schedules and a student survey questionnaire for data collection. Audio recordings of interviews were transcribed and coded into nodes which provided easy retrieval of themes that emerged. The quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistical methods (including percentages, means, standard deviations and graphs where appropriate). The major findings of the study generally, indicate the lack of institutional policies specifically formulated for DE delivery in public dual mode universities in Ghana. The use of policies meant for conventional students and unofficial conventions and guidelines to carry out some key DE activities to the detriment of DE learners was revealed. This finding contravenes the Equivalency Theory in Distance Education delivery. The current institutional policies being addressed in the universities are concentrated on academic, faculty, students, and fiscal geographic governance, technical and philosophic issues. None of the universities identified clear-cut institutional policies on legal issues. The study also indicated DE learners’ dissatisfaction with the array of support services provided and the non-availability of some support services such as guidance and counselling. The moderate level of commitment towards DE delivery despite the nonavailability of specific institutional policies in the universities was also revealed. The findings of this research study led to the conclusion that although DE in public universities in Ghana is growing for the past decade, institutional policies to serve as a framework for its successful implementation are lacking. The findings from this study is consistent with earlier research findings by Butcher (2013), affirming that generally, institutional policies and commitment which are essential to the success of all DE programmes and their students are lacking in most dual mode universities in Africa. Based on the findings of the study, six recommendations were made; The major finding among others is that the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Services should encourage stakeholder discussions for a national (DE) policy from which the universities could use as a spring board to conduct policies audit and needs assessment of existing institutional policies, to identify areas of weaknesses that do not ensure institutional support and commitment towards institutional goals and objectives, and learner success.