Open Distance Learning Literature Review

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This review will be exploring the “impact of face-to-face contact sessions on the academic performance of open-distance learning (ODL) students”. This review will explore the views from various sources and assess of the impact that contact sessions has on a students’ performance. Academic institutions have evolved over the years from formal class room lecturing to online lecturing. This has impacted the way in which students engage in their learning styles and progress in their studies. The independent variables identified are the face-to-face sessions and open distance learning. The dependent variable is the academic performance of students. 1. Literature review 1.1 Face-to-face contact sessions Face-to-face teaching is a common term used…show more content…
This setting encourages student interaction, as the lecture classes are bigger classes and they don’t always enable students to ask questions as there is usually a limited amount of time for the lecturer to complete the prescribed work for that session. These classes allow tutors to clarify module content which was covered in the lecture classroom. According to Fung and Carr (2000, p. 39) “the School of Education and Languages expected to make use of tutorials to improve their performance in assignments”. A recent study (Fung and Carr, 2000) highlighted that students preferred tutorials which provided opportunities for them to participate and that they tend to look for specific support and guidance from tutors to help them complete their studies successfully. According to Olivier (2016, p. 77), “tutorial class attendance had significant effect on student performance in distance-learning courses”. Based on Oliver study the lowest scoring students did not attend any contact sessions. This supports Olivier statement above that tutorial attendance has an impact on students’ performance. Tutorial classes are different to lecture classes as it is a lecture that allows for more application and revising. According to Olivier (2016, p. 82 ), “there is no statistically significant difference in the means of final examination scores of students who attended an examination…show more content…
This is even more important for first year students who has no knowledge or experience of how fast pace the life of a student is and the freedom that comes with it. Garrison and Baynton (1987, as cited in Ogina and Mampane, 2013, p. 105 ) stated that “learners support enables learners to access a variety of learning resources such as learning materials, library, media technology and tutors as facilitators”. For first year students they still need to adjust to the new environment, learning about the new system i.e. myunisa platform which supports students with queries and serves as a drive to access all course materials. McConnell (2000, as cited in Ogina and Mampane, 2013, p. 108) stated that “peer support that takes place through discussions enables the student to share and review ideas and provide feedback. The students not only gain new knowledge but also acquire new social skills through communication with their peers”. Support structure throughout a student’s academic journey is imperative, as there will be times when students are demotivated, angry and even stress out. With ODL it makes it even harder for students to keep going as there are external influences that could also affect the student’s mindset i.e. stress at work, personal commitments, time constraints with month end or year-end activities. During these times students feel discourage to continue and could

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