Trends and Prospects of Instructional Material Development and Delivery at the University of Zambia

The major concern addressed in this study is why the University of Zambia UNZA despite being the first national University with so much vast experience in excellence and service as its motto is and being the first institution to offer distance education DE in Zambia has not commensurately grown to competitive and comparative massive enrollment numbers increased number of programmes and courses and development and delivery of instructional materials in Open and Distance Learning ODL The need to introduce DE at UNZA amongst many other compelling reasons could be attributed to the Lockwood Commission whose report in 1963 64 recommended that degree programmes at the Institution should be available by distance study to suitably qualified candidates who might not be in position to attend the University education on full - time basis This study is anchored on questions such as i How does UNZA run distance education ii How does UNZA develop instructional materials iii How does UNZA deliver instructional materials to its distance students iv What successes has UNZA scored in distance education mode of study v Why is distance education at UNZA not expanding as expected vi How best could UNZA deliver its learner support services to its distance students The study employed descriptive design and document analysis review It is largely qualitative in nature The major findings of the study show that UNZA being a dual mode institution depends on lecturers from various teaching schools to service distance education students Institute of Distance Education IDE the Unit of the University with sole responsibilities of administration organisation and coordination of DE programmes depends on lecturers employed under regular mode of study to develop instructional materials conduct face-to-face contact sessions during residential schools prepare assessment and examinations and mark them IDE experiences some degree of resistance from mainstream fac

Trends and Prospects of Instructional Material Development and Delivery at the University of Zambia

The major concern addressed in this study is why the University of Zambia UNZA despite being the first national University with so much vast experience in excellence and service as its motto is and being the first institution to offer distance education DE in Zambia has not commensurately grown to competitive and comparative massive enrollment numbers increased number of programmes and courses and development and delivery of instructional materials in Open and Distance Learning ODL The need to introduce DE at UNZA amongst many other compelling reasons could be attributed to the Lockwood Commission whose report in 1963 64 recommended that degree programmes at the Institution should be available by distance study to suitably qualified candidates who might not be in position to attend the University education on full - time basis This study is anchored on questions such as i How does UNZA run distance education ii How does UNZA develop instructional materials iii How does UNZA deliver instructional materials to its distance students iv What successes has UNZA scored in distance education mode of study v Why is distance education at UNZA not expanding as expected vi How best could UNZA deliver its learner support services to its distance students The study employed descriptive design and document analysis review It is largely qualitative in nature The major findings of the study show that UNZA being a dual mode institution depends on lecturers from various teaching schools to service distance education students Institute of Distance Education IDE the Unit of the University with sole responsibilities of administration organisation and coordination of DE programmes depends on lecturers employed under regular mode of study to develop instructional materials conduct face-to-face contact sessions during residential schools prepare assessment and examinations and mark them IDE experiences some degree of resistance from mainstream fac

Leveraging parental involvement in the education of their children as a conflict resolution strategy in selected secondary schools, Zambia.

This study explored parental involvement in the education of their children as a conflict resolution strategy in the Kafue district of Lusaka province in Zambia. 28 participants were purposively engaged within a qualitative research methodology to generate evidence. Key among the findings revealed that factors that affected parents’ involvement in education of their children at school were negative attitude, lack of understanding and financial constraints. Similarly, when school authorities are not communicating effectively with parents, it created a vacuum of information which all stakeholders needed. A challenge in some situation was distance, sometimes distance becomes a hindrance for parents to participate in the affairs of the school. Distance to the school was one other contributing factor that affected parents’ involvement in education of their school going children. Thus, the study recommends among others that, Parents should provide their children with basic needs such as food, shelter and clothes, learning materials like exercises books adequate academic and moral attention, unconditional love and the opportunity to develop responsible citizenship. Equally, Teacher should demonstrate friendliness, respect and recognition of parents of students registered in secondary schools in order to encourage them to get involved in school activities. Further, Education policy makers are urged to develop a parental involvement policy in secondary schools to guide practice

Unearthing Impediments and anti-dots in the Implementation of Dual Citizenship Policy in Zambia

In this study, we explored Impediments in the implementation of the Dual Citizenship Policy in Zambia. The study utilised a descriptive research design within a qualitative research approach. The study used semi-structured interviews and document analysis as data generation instruments. Using a critical case and maximum variation, purposive sampling, the study generated evidence from a total of 14 participants. The study identified lack of awareness and sensitisation, delay in security vetting, lack of information from the Zambian missions abroad, lack of honesty from applicants, failure by applicants to provide accurate information, and incomplete application forms as some among the many reasons on the institutional related barriers to the implementation of the dual citizenship Policy. On the other hand, the following were the suggested anti-dots to the accelerated implementation of the dual citizenship policy: (i) engaging the media, both print and electronic, (ii) educating the citizens by utilising the already existing structures as information desks for citizens to access information about the Dual Citizenship Act, and (iii) decentralisation of the sittings of the Citizenship Board of Zambia to other parts of Zambia. Further, there was need to repackage the information in accessible manner for all people and by introducing online platforms where citizens can find the information readily available The study concludes that while Government through the Ministry of Home Affairs is registering citizens for dual citizenship, there was lack of awareness and sensitisation being done in order for the citizenry to appreciate the positive nature of the policy The study recommends that the Government of the Republic of Zambia should scale up awareness and sensitisation programmes on the intended benefits and opportunities that lie in the implementation of dual citizenship policy among others

“WhatsApp” as a learner support tool for distance education: implications for policy and practice at university of Zambia.

- One of the norms of distance education is that learners are the drivers of their learning and teachers merely facilitate the learning process. To this effect, learners are expected to be fully engaged in their studies throughout for them to perform well in their studies. However, the ‘distance’ factor inherent in distance education has been identified as one of the major challenges for learners studying in this mode. The geographical isolation significantly detracts from the need for social interactions that are usually afforded by face-to-face situations. Consequently, the void leads to isolation, confusion, stress and ultimately contributing to high failure rate and drop-outs from the academic programmes. In this study, we document the use of “WhatsApp” as a tool for learner support among postgraduate students on the distance learning mode within the University of Zambia. The study, through “WhatsApp”, follows students where they are found and learns from them without disrupting their privacy and culture to inform Open Distance Learning policy and practice. It is now clear that the University should be proactive to encourage the creation of self-generated social networks to mitigate vexing emergent issues students face on the distance learning mode

Search for heavy resonances decaying into WW in the eνμν eνμν final state in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for neutral heavy resonances is performed in the WW→eνμν decay channel using pp collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1fb−1, collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 13TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. No evidence of such heavy resonances is found. In the search for production via the quark–antiquark annihilation or gluon–gluon fusion process, upper limits on σX×B(X→WW) as a function of the resonance mass are obtained in the mass range between 200GeV GeV and up to 5TeV for various benchmark models: a Higgs-like scalar in different width scenarios, a two-Higgs-doublet model, a heavy vector triplet model, and a warped extra dimensions model. In the vector-boson fusion process, constraints are also obtained on these resonances, as well as on a Higgs boson in the Georgi–Machacek model and a heavy tensor particle coupling only to gauge bosons

Distance Learner’s Perspective on User-friendly Instructional Materials at the University of Zambia

This case study focuses on print-based instructional materials available to distance education learners at the University of Zambia. Using the Visual Paradigm Software, we model distance education learners’ voices into sociograms to make a contribution to the ongoing discourse on quality distance learning in lowly resourced communities. The key finding shows that out of the four modules (PEM 2082, PEM 2061, PEM 2071, PEM 3122) engaged in, learners rated PEM 2082 as the most user-friendly module at 65.9% while PEM 3122 was rated least at 2.3%. Emerging from this study are the ten elements that instructional designers will need to re-consider some of which are: (i) presentation and layout of content; (ii) use of interactive language; and (iii) inclusion of real life situations. In view of the foregoing, it is recommended that the university adheres to ODL instructional design fundamentals in all its instructional materials as a means to improved quality distance learning