INTERVIEW DATA EXPLICATION
5.8 Distance teaching-learning methods
5.8.3 Weekend tutorials
Contact tutorials are a key teaching-learning method and learner support mechanism in the DL. I asked interviewees their experiences with weekend contact tutorials.
They gave responses that varied with intakes, tutor preparedness, geographical location, transport facilities and national economic hardships including:
Weekend tutorials were helpful,
We never had a scheduled tutorial failing or that there was no tutor , Everyone was eager to attend as most of the tutors were good and helpful, Ill-prepared tutors,
Distance was an impediment,
Due to transport problems students and tutors sometimes could not come, and You would have economic hardships.
Most of my interviewees from both earlier and later intakes regarded contact tutorials as essential and helpful (Macmillan and Mclean 2005) in coping with DL.
They shared the view expressed by a rural school head from earlier intakes that had unimpeded completion of the programme. He said that contact tutorial sessions, ―- were helpful--to get guidance from the lecturer, to interact on our own as students and to share experiences‖ (DT5BV:409). A teacher from earlier intakes that also had
unimpeded completion of the programme added that contact tutorials enhanced interactive learning among students (Murgatroyd 1980). He also found tutorials empowering learners and at the same time facilitating interactivity between learners and tutors. Hence he said, ―Tutors-- gave us chance to prepare some work for delivery to other students and the tutors could round up students‘ presentations‖
(DT5Z:410).A school head from later intakes that was still on the programme said that, ―I find those very helpful-- to clarify some points"(DT5CH:409). This was echoed by an urban female senior teacher from later intakes that was still on the programme as she said that, ―-weekend tutorials benefit a lot, especially those given by dedicated tutors‖ (DT5C:409).
Participants from earlier intakes faced less challenges from contact tutorial sessions than those from later intakes. For instance, a male deputy school head from earlier intakes that had unimpeded completion of the programme said, ―We never had -- a scheduled tutorial failing or that there was no tutor‖ (DT5B:410). However, it is not all gold that glitters. Occasionally, earlier intakes had encounters with ill-qualified tutors. A deputy school head that had unimpeded completion of the programme said,
―Once in a while, we had queer tutors--relying on what they had done themselves-- failing to teach us from the known to the unknown‖ (DT5B:411).
Majority of participants from earlier intakes shared the sentiments of a rural teacher that had unimpeded completion of the programme who said, ―-tutors used to come very well prepared‖ (DT5Z:410). Participant experiences in later intakes revealed deterioration in the quality of weekend tutorial sessions at ZOU. Some tutors came ill prepared for tutorial sessions. Such tutors only told students to read the module. A male school head that was an SRC member and was still on the programme from later intakes experienced contact tutorials where, ―most of the lecturers have a tendency of repeating what is already in the modules‖ (DT5CH:411).
Students from earlier intakes expressed more satisfaction with tutorial conduct than those from later intakes. A male school head from earlier intakes that had unimpeded completion of the programme confirmed this as he said, ―Everyone was eager to attend-- the tutors were quite good, very sympathetic--they actually helped us‖
(DT5ZV:410). Meanwhile, a female senior teacher from later intakes experienced indifference in the attitude of tutors. She said, ―- some are eager to see students pass but some are not. At times, you would attend a lecture where the tutors would not turn up‖ (DT5C:409). In worst case scenarios, a female deputy school head from later intakes that delayed but completed the programme said that, ―You couldn‘t see a tutor until we write the exam‖ (DT5E:411).
Interviewees also revealed that students from rural areas faced more challenges during contact tutorial sessions in DL than those from urban areas. Time and travel expenses due to distance from regional centres were major challenges. A rural school head from earlier intakes that had unimpeded completion of the DL programme said,
―distance was an impediment‖ (DT5BV:409). This was substantiated by a female deputy school head from earlier intakes who also said that, ―-because of financial constraints we could not go to the tutorials 50 kilometres from my place‖
(DT5S:411). A rural female school head from earlier intakes that also had unimpeded completion of the programme travelled from her province across a second into a third province to go and attend tutorial sessions. She said, ―I worked in Mash East, doing my programme in Mash West 300 kilometres from where I was working‖
(DT5V:412). Another case was that of a remote rural school teacher from earlier intakes that also had unimpeded completion of the programme and could not attend tutorials during the wet summer months. The dust roads in their area got waterlogged and buses could not travel there. Hence he said, ―I was cut away from them because of floods from January to February‖ (DT5Z:413)
The challenges to DL students from later intakes at ZOU were worsened by the economic hardships. These were a result of the controversial ‗land reform‘ in 2000 and the subsequent poor macro- economic management and political governance in Zimbabwe. A rural senior teacher that delayed but completed the programme said that, ―Because of the transport--others couldn‘t make it-- also the tutors, sometimes were not able to come‖ (DT5A:409).