INTERVIEW DATA EXPLICATION
5.6 Availability of learning materials
Since its inception ZOU pledged to support DL students with multi-media instruction comprising: print, radio, telephone, contact tutorials and assessment, district study centres and library research (Benza 2001). At the time of this study, none of the participants had used radio in their DL. Most participants wished they had district study centres because they were not available. Print module, library research, telephone, contact tutorials and assessment were used. I deal with them in their tree nodes.
I asked participants their experience in accessing learning materials in the DL programme at ZOU. Ten of my participants said the learning materials were insufficient while only two said they had enough materials. Some of them used their personal resources to cope with DL.
A female deputy school head who delayed completion of the programme and was in fourth year argued that DL is simple if learners have the learning resources. In her view, ―Studying through distance education is quite simple when you have the resources‖ (DT1S:370). The basic learning resource at ZOU is a course module.
5.6.1 The print module
In principle, every learner receives a learning package that includes course modules during registration at the beginning of every semester at ZOU. I asked participants their experiences with availability of the modules in the DL programme. Their answers varied from adequate, inadequate and not available. Participants‘ responses
indicated that modules were better supplied to earlier than later intakes on the B.Ed.
programme.
While a deputy school head from earlier intakes that had unimpeded completion of the programme said, ―-we had enough modules to use-- In our case you would always have a module‖ (DT3B:395),a school head from later intakes that was still on the programme said,‖ We have got assignments but we don‘t have modules‖
(DT2CH:386). The supply of modules was erratic. In some cases the supply of modules delayed. In other situations the modules that were supplied were fewer than the registered learners. This had negative implications on students‘ preparation of and meeting assignment submission deadlines. The impact of poor supply of modules is discussed under DL teaching methods tree node.
5.6.2 The Library
Among ZOU‘s learner support mechanisms was provision of the library for research.
I asked participants their experiences with the use of the ZOU library in DL. Their responses included that:
The library is quite okay,
Being first intake, we did not have any library at all,
ZOU library had some materials but they were not enough, I think our library, you hardly find a book ,
At times the library was over-crowded with students,
Library facilities were a challenge due to distance from the regional centre, From where I was in the remote rural areas there was no library, and Library would not give books for a week; it would just give for overnight.
Only one urban female senior teacher from later intakes who was still on the programme said, ―-the library, ah it‘s quite okay‖ (DT3C:400). The other eleven participants in my sample faced challenges with the use of the library at ZOU. For
instance, a school head from earlier intakes said, ―-being first intake, we didn‘t have any libraries at all‖ (DT3BV:399). Seven of my interviewees concurred with a teacher from earlier intakes who had unimpeded completion of the programme but said that, ―-in the library, there were very few books‖ (DT3Z:398). Another school head from later intakes that was still on the programme said, ―-our library, you hardly find a book‖ (DT3CH:400). There was shortage of library books in some regional centres that a female head of department that had unimpeded completion of the programme said, ―the library would not give books for a week, they would just give you for overnight--coming from the rural areas‖(DT3R:400) . Even where the library had books, there were times when reading space was inadequate in the library. A female senior teacher from earlier intakes that had delayed completion of the programme said, ―-there comes a time when the library is over-crowded‖
(DT3A:394).
In other cases, the challenge from library facilities arose, ―because of distance from the regional centre‖ (DT3Z:401). A deputy school head who delayed completion of the programme experienced that, ―the Mashonaland East one was roughly 50 kilometres from where I was‖ (DT3S:401).A female school head from earlier intakes also had to travel from her rural regional centre to borrow books from libraries in urban areas as she said, ―In Marondera the books were not enough but in Harare the books were okay. I would go to Seke Teachers‘ College or Victoria Memorial Library in town‖ (DT3V:401).
Participants‘ responses reveal that urban students were nearer to library facilities than rural ones. That situation exposed rural students to more challenges from the library than urban ones. These included transport cost and also shorter access and reading time.
5.6.3 Strategies for coping with learning materials
I asked participants the strategies they used to cope with challenges they faced in availability of learning materials. Their responses included:
Buying own books,
Borrowing books or texts from friends who had gone through the programme,
Using other universities, colleges, institutions and local authority libraries, Sourcing information from internet,
Borrowing on Friday and returning the book on Saturday, and Photocopying chapters from books and articles from journals.
In order to cope with inadequate learning materials in the DL programme, some respondents like a rural female school head from earlier intakes that had unimpeded completion of the programme had to, ―buy some textbooks‖ (DT3V:397). Five participants including a female deputy school head from earlier intakes that had delayed completion of the programme borrowed books, ―-from friends‖ (DT3S:397).
Four of the interviewees like the female head of department from later intakes that was still on the programme relied on materials borrowed from, ―-other students who have already completed the programme‖ (DT3C:399). The other learners used, ―- books from other universities‖ (DT3A: 395) and also, ―-photocopying books‖
(DT3BV:398) to cope with DL. Participants like the female head from earlier intakes that had unimpeded completion of the programme, ―-would get some information from the internet‖ (DT3V:397). In regional centres where library books were too few for the enrolled students, students could only borrow books and return them to the library overnight. A female head of department from earlier intakes said, ―I would just borrow on Friday and return the book on Saturday‖ (DT3R:400).
Participants from earlier intakes found access to library books easier than those from later intakes. ZOU still had inter-library linkages with other institutions. For
instance, a deputy school head from earlier intakes that had unimpeded completion of the programme said that, during their time in the programme, ―Once you were a member of ZOU, you would use any library free of charge like; Parliament, Seke Teachers College and the University Library‖ (DT3B:398). The impact of the availability of the modules on adult learners‘ coping with DL is discussed after comparing the interview results with those from the survey.