An Appraisal on Counseling in Distance Education in Tanzania

Biswalo, Hichael Feto (1993) An Appraisal on Counseling in Distance Education in Tanzania. Masters thesis, The Open University of Tanzania.

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Abstract

This study was set out in order to determine the extent to which counselling was carried out in distance education institutions in Tanzania. Since counselling has been considered to be an important service to learners at a distance, it would be of interest to find out the extent to which it is carried out in relation with distance education programmes in Tanzania. To highlight the research problem, the study reviewed literature connected with counselling vis-a-vis distance education. We observe that the level of counselling is closely linked to the paradigms of distance education. The less the quality of distance education programme, the more counselling programmes would be required. The study then described distance education institutions' programmes and their clientele for whom counselling needs to be provided. Nevertheless some empirical studies on counselling ln conventional training institutions were reviewed. To investigate the research problem, the study worked out a population sample drawn out from two distance education institutions namely, the Co-operative Education Centre (C.E.C.) and the National Correspondence Institution (N.C.I.). Both of these are directly ~ponsored by the Tanzanian government. The respondents comprised distance learners and 21 distance tutors from institutions mentioned above 66 both the study employed one sampling technique that is, random sampling. It was used to select a sample that would yield generalizable research data. The research design in this study was a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches. However, the survey approach was mainly adopted leading it to some description. The methods included documentary reviews, and Questionnaire. Data analysis involved item analysis and calculations in percentages. Results indicated that counseling was inadequately practiced in distance education institutions specifically in relation to distance learners' problems and tutor counseling in areas such as training. However, though a little practice of counseling, there was a need to strengthen tutor-counseling in the two distance education institutions in Tanzania

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