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New Paradigm in Access to Education: The University of Ibadan Distance Learning Centre's Experience
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Abstract
PCF5: Cross-Cutting Theme // The University of Ibadan established in 1948 to promote higher education
has always been conscious of ensuring that its gate remained open to
many prospective learners rather than few. This perhaps informed its
decision in 1988 to establish a unit that will further provide access to
those who for reasons of geographical location, occupation and time
constraint among others could not afford to attend the conventional
system. Since the establishment of the Distance Learning Centre (DLC),
student population has been very low until recently when there was a
noticeable increase in the enrolment. The increase in enrolment became
obvious during the last two students matriculation when it jumped from
hundreds to thousands of students. Reasons for this have not been
empirically established. The purpose of this paper was to find out among
others, factors responsible for the sudden upsurge in student enrolment,
the reaction of the entire university community, the fears and expectations
of the students and mechanisms put in place by the university to cope with
the large enrolment without jeopardizing quality and interest of the
conventional programmes vis-à-vis the distance learning mode. The paper
further investigates the role of ICT embraced by the Centre as against the
heavy reliance on professional teachers in the line post. The instruments
used to obtain data for this study were: interview schedule, management
information provider and student response questionnaires, and the review
of essential literature and related documents. The paper was concluded
with recommendations that promote inclusive learning rather than
exclusive learning without necessarily sacrificing the quality of the
various programmes of the Centre. // Paper ID 313
Country
Nigeria
Region
Africa
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Date
2008
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Publisher
Commonwealth of Learning (COL)