Effects of Home Environment in Supporting Distance Learners at the Open University of Tanzania: Socio Cultural and Gender Perspectives

Mjwanga, Joyce Hakimu (2018) Effects of Home Environment in Supporting Distance Learners at the Open University of Tanzania: Socio Cultural and Gender Perspectives. Masters thesis, The Open University of Tanzania.

PDF - Submitted Version Download (337kB)

Abstract

This study is an assessment of the effect of home environment on distance learners enrolled in Open University of Tanzania. Socio Cultural and Gender perspectives and documentary review, questionnaire survey, interviews, focus group discussion were used to gather information from a total of 100 respondents from five Regional Centres of Open university of Tanzania. The focus of the study was on the learners ‘perception on the quality of social support in home environment; their perceptions of the quality of financial support from home; and gender differences in the perceptions of quality of home environment in supporting learning in a distance. The study found thatthe sources of support that ODL learners get in home environment were from their families, friends, relatives and self. The study also found that the types of support that learner get in home environment were computers and their accessories, which were quite important in learning through distance. Moreover, the study found that there was no difference between gender in the source and type of support in home environment. The study recommends that ODL institutions and practitioners should see families and friends of students as important stakeholders and invite them in meetings as much as possible. The study also recommends that government should strengthen families to help them be in a better position to support children as well as adult learners in their families. For further studies, it is recommended that more studies should be conducted in more locations in order to generalize the findings.

Actions (login required)

View Item