Department of Distance Education

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://197.255.125.131:4000/handle/123456789/22058

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    Critical Reflection by Mature Students as Co-Developers of an Open Educational Resource in Foregrounding Their Learning
    (Journal of Learning for Development, 2023) Berg, G.V.D.; Amponsah, S.; Mudau, P.K.; et al.
    This study explored learning which occurred when mature distance education students developed an open educational resource (OER) with their lecturers, using Smith’s critical reflection as a method to guide reflection on their learning. This study is significant since student learning on the co-development of an open educational resource could not be found in the literature. Within an interpretative paradigm, we used questionnaires with mainly open-ended questions to determine a particular group of students’ learning. Findings indicate learning about themselves, their interactions, and their contexts. The study puts forward specific implications to improve future practices based on the findings. The specific contribution is that students who engage in critical self-reflection change their perspectives, allowing them to self-examine and reflect on future actions. This learning experience assists students, lecturers and institutions of higher education in their approach toward critical reflection and the co-development of OER
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    Describing brown as green: an examination of the relationship between greenwashing and consumer negative emotive outcomes
    (Cogent Business & Management, 2024) Nnindini , S.I.; Dankwah,J.B.
    As the demand for sustainable and environmentally friendly products continues to rise, consumers have become more discerning in their brand choices. This has resulted in many companies resorting to greenwashing to appear environmentally friendly. While previous studies have explored different dimensions of greenwashing, its effects on consumer emotive outcomes have not been given much scholarly attention. Therefore, this study sought to examine the relationship between greenwashing and consumer negative emotive outcomes. Additionally, the study examined the potential moderating effect of brand loyalty on the relationship between greenwashing and these negative emotive outcomes. A cross-sectional survey involving a total of 490 respondents with usage experience of green household electronic appliances was utilized. Data were analyzed using the partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach. The results of the analysis revealed a positive correlation between greenwashing and all four negative emotive outcomes examined. Furthermore, the findings demonstrated that brand loyalty plays a positive moderating role in the relationship between greenwashing and negative emotive outcomes. The study thus, strongly recommends that brands engaged in greenwashing discontinue the practice. The consequences of the negative outcomes associated with greenwashing extend beyond a decline in sales performance. It could potentially inflict significant damage on the corporate brand image and reputation. Therefore, brands should prioritize genuine environmental responsibility to mitigate these adverse effects and maintain a positive brand image among consumers.
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    Core Conceptual Features of Successful Blended Learning in Higher Education: Policy Implications
    (Education Policy Analysis Archives, 2022) Bekele, T.A.; Amponsah, S.; Karkouti, I.M.
    COVID-19 has “taught” universities worldwide that using digital technologies to support Pure online or blended learning is a survival strategy. This lesson, plus the inclusion of technology in continental, national, and university policies and strategic plans implicate significant technology integration, especially blended learning, in higher education in the post-pandemic era. However, there is a lack of sound theoretical frameworks to adequately explain success indicators and success factors in blended learning. Existing frameworks provided particulars about the impacts of blended learning within certain contexts; none provided a comprehensive analysis of the significant factors thattranscend specific application contexts. Moreover, the frameworks did not offer clear conceptions of knowledge, teaching, learning, and technology and its role in learning. To better inform successful blended learning adoption, this study problematizes success indicators and success factors based on a configurative review of existing frameworks and emerging theoretical perspectives in higher education. A holistic conceptual framework that transcends context specificity is proposed to better inform policy making, instructional design, and teaching and learning. Conceptions of adaptive policy: policy as learning design and policy as practice are found relevant for blended learning policy making and analysis in higher education.
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    Student Satisfaction and Preferences Related to Virtual Streaming Facilities During the COVID-19 Lockdown
    (International Journal of Virtual and Personal Learning Environments, 2022) Wyk, M.M.V.; Amponsah, S.
    This paper reported how students used the virtual streaming technology and considered their satisfaction and preferencesrelated to video conferencing during COVID-19 lockdown. A case study was selected for an exploratory mixed-methods design to explore students’ (n = 89) lived experiences of the video conferencing facility during the COVID-19 lockdown. Thisstudy study has found that students preferred both Teams and Zoom as virtual streaming facilities during the COVID-19 lockdown. Students were satisfied with virtual streaming platforms as a teaching and learning supportive tool that facilitated their shift to online learning. Moreover, this study reported that using a web-based videoconferencing platform as a virtual streaming tool supports students in learning from home in critical times such as this pandemic. Further research is needed to determine students and lecturers’ digital literacy competencies using video conferencing forsuccessful online learning post-COVID-19 lockdown.
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    Exploring the dominant learning styles of adult learners in higher education
    (International Review of Education, 2020) Amponsah, S.
    In today’s complex and knowledge-driven world, the quest to pursue and acquire information and skills to enable one to be useful in society is not limited to young learners; many older adults also actively seek to acquire new knowledge and skills. The study presented in this article aims to establish the characteristics and dominant learning styles of adults enrolled in a diploma programme at an institution of higher education in Ghana. In a qualitative case study approach using a homogenous sam pling technique, 21 students (aged 27–54, 10 female, 11 male) were asked to fll in a learning styles questionnaire and to participate in focus group interviews. Based on these participants’ responses, the study found three learning styles to be dominant: pragmatist, refector and theorist. An interesting fnding was the absence of a fourth type among participants, the activist learning style. Since it is clear that not all adult learners engage well with the typical theoretical and conceptual content that is taught in higher education institutions, understanding these four adult learning styles should inform higher education policies in order to make learning equally enjoyable and maximise efective learning for all four types of adult learners. Other signifcant fndings of this study open up avenues for further research on how an understanding of learning styles can be used to enhance learning by adults.
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    Technology As A Predictor Of Students’ Virtual Learning Experiences In Post- Covid Era: Empirical Analysis From A Ghanaian Higher Education Institution
    (E-Learning and Digital Media, 2024) Essiam, J.O.; Odame, J.; Ayisi-Addo, A.; Gyamfi, G.D.
    The devastating effect of the Covid pandemic negatively affect most economies while conspicuously changing the mode of interactions in the educational sector from the traditional face-to-face to a full online deployment or a blend of virtual and in-person interactions during the post-covid. The aim of this study is to determine the impact of technology on students’ virtual learning experiences after the peak of the covid pandemic. Three hundred and seventy-nine (N = 379) undergraduate students participated in the study. Findings showed that the use of technology significantly predicted student online teaching and learning also influenced student virtual learning experiences positively. These findings will help managers of higher education institutions invest into training and technology-driven interactions to enhance students’ engagement.
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    Achieving human potential through community learning centres in Ghana: a capabilities approach to community development
    (Studies in the Education of Adults, 2024) Agyekum, B.; Amponsah, S.
    This article uses Sen’s Capabilities Approach (CA), which prioritises access and equality, to critically investigate distance education (DE) programmes in the community learning centres (CLCs) as a program that sheds light on how to best promote a community’s residents’ quality of life in Ghana. According to this study, encouraging distance learning in CLCs can have an impact on community development. To investigate how DE in CLCs aids community development, this study used a qualitative case study methodology and conducted in-depth interviews with students and service providers (n = 25) from the Greater Accra CLCs. Key emerging themes included fostering equity in the community and encouraging access and opportunity for learning through DE. Studies have demonstrated that the more active and knowledgeable individuals are, the greater their independence from families and, consequently, on the resources and services of the community. Additionally, engaged-educated people contribute to the development of their communities through their knowledge, expertise, and experience they have gained. Hence, Sen’s capability approach, which seeks to comprehend issues of access and opportunities in the community, makes the connection between studies in CLCs and community development. It is, therefore, imperative to conclude that CLCs are designed to offer learning activities for adults to promote an active lifestyle that contributes to the development of of sustainable communities
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    Critical Reflection by Mature Students as Co-Developers of an Open Educational Resource in Foregrounding Their Learnin
    (Journal for Learning Development, 2023) van den Berg, G.; Mudau, P.K.; Amponsah, S.; et al.
    This study explored learning which occurred when mature distance education students codeveloped an open educational resource (OER) with their lecturers using Smith’s critical reflection as a method to guide reflection on their learning. This study is significant since student learning on the codevelopment of an open educational resource could not be found in the literature. Within an interpretative paradigm, we used questionnaires with mainly open-ended questions to determine a particular group of students’ learning. Findings indicate learning about themselves, their interactions, and their contexts. The study puts forward specific implications to improve future practices based on the findings. The specific contribution is that students who engage in critical self-reflection change their perspectives, allowing them to self-examine and reflect on future actions. This learning experience assists students, lecturers and institutions of higher education in their approach toward critical reflection and the co-development of OER
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    Incorporation of Gender into Communication Strategy Design and Implementation: A Study of Two NGOs in Accra-Ghana.
    (2018) Appiah, S.O.; Ofosu-Ennin, I.
    Communication Strategy is a key component of the development process since it serves as the guideline for relating with stakeholders in executing projects. It is through this component that stakeholders are mapped, specifically targeted; appropriate channels of communication selected and messages developed together with stakeholders to meet their communication needs. However, over the years, many projects have been implemented with less than average impact being made due to the absence of underlying gender issues. This paper assessed the level of gender incorporation into communication strategy design and implementation by purposively selecting two NGOs namely Action Aid Ghana (AAG) and Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). The paper combined the in-depth and key informant interview approaches in the data collection process. In all, five respondents made up of four communication team members from the two NGOs and a gender advocate were interviewed. Data were thematically analyzed based on the main objective of the paper. The study revealed that gender was highly considered in both organizations and was a key aspect of activity implementation. However, its incorporation into communication strategy design was poor and based on organizational factors and the capacity of the Communication officer to facilitate it. The paper recommended the need for proper stakeholder involvement in the design process as well training of communication personnel on gender issues.
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    Selected Issues of Africa: Governance, Conflict and Peace-Building
    (2012) Bawa, J.
    This work takes a cursory look at some important dynamics and trends on Africa’s political development. It underscores three important issues of governance, conflict and peace-building. The work constitutes three main chapters. Chapter one analyses the democratic dispensation of the Fourth Republic of Ghana. It takes a look at some of the challenges of Ghana’s democracy and concludes that Ghana which has won the accolade of being “the gateway” of democratic governance in Sub-Saharan Africa is at best a democratizing state rather than being democratic. The findings of the work clearly give the evidence of fear, acrimony and incumbency abuse of elections as a constant threat to Ghana’s democratization process. It has also been revealed that ethnicity has become a major determinant of electoral politics in Ghana which has been couched in the Akan-Ewe electoral card played by the two front-horses of Ghana’s politics, the NPP and the NDC whose electoral successes have been influenced by the Akans and Ewes respectively since the inception of the Fourth Republic in 1992. Other challenges include the low participation of women in politics and public life, the frequent boycotts of parliamentary sessions by the NPP and the NDC and the lack of respect for the rule of law. Chapter two examines the impact of conflict on poverty and food security in Africa. It concludes that all the effects of conflict are poverty and food insecurity related. The work establishes the fact that poverty and food insecurity on the African continent has been exacerbated by the conflict prone nature of African states from the loss of lives and physical suffering to the effects of conflict on the natural environment. The work draws practical examples from intractable civil war countries like Angola, Sudan, DR Congo and Sierra Leone among many others for concrete evidence upon which the lessons of the study are much appreciated for the progress of the continent. The final chapter underscores the challenges of post-conflict peace-building in Africa. It takes a deep analysis of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission (SLTRC) inaugurated in 2002. The analysis of the SLTRC offers a good lesson for the viability of truth commissions as effective transitional justice mechanism for addressing the legacy of past human rights abuse. The SLTRC remains one of the effective of its kinds in Africa due to its massive international involvement, the greater participation of civil society organisations throughout the activities and processes of the commission, the public hearing and high publicity of the proceeding of the commission and the special attention given to women and children. However, the commission was plagued with a number of challenges, inter alia; the simultaneous operation of the Sierra Leone Special Court (SLSC); obstacles of making the wider public aware of and knowledgeable of the commission such as illiteracy, lack of single The final chapter underscores the challenges of post-conflict peace-building in Africa. It takes a deep analysis of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission (SLTRC) inaugurated in 2002. The analysis of the SLTRC offers a good lesson for the viability of truth commissions as effective transitional justice mechanism for addressing the legacy of past human rights abuse. The SLTRC remains one of the effective of its kinds in Africa due to its massive international involvement, the greater participation of civil society organisations throughout the activities and processes of the commission, the public hearing and high publicity of the proceeding of the commission and the special attention given to women and children. However, the commission was plagued with a number of challenges, inter alia; the simultaneous operation of the Sierra Leone Special Court (SLSC); obstacles of making the wider public aware of and knowledgeable of the commission such as illiteracy, lack of single lingua franca and security concerns etc.; serious mismanagement and staff recruitment problems; and time, resource and funding constraints. and security concerns etc.; serious mismanagement and staff recruitment problems; and time, resource and funding constraints.