This ethnographic study has been undertaken to address a literature gap relating to
rural students’ experiences of distance education in developing countries. It gives an
account of teaching and learning practices at the Open University of Tanzania
(OUT), describes the needs, challenges and coping strategies of students and makes
recommendations for improving teaching and support practices in rural areas. An
ethnographic approach was used to enable the generation of rich, contextual data
from four OUT regional centres. Data generation methods included interviews,
observation and document review, while themes were inductively generated through
thematic analysis. Bourdieu’s concepts of field and habitus were used to guide the
conduct of the study and interpretation of the findings. The study shows that the
OUT does not significantly address the problem of the educational divide between
the rural and urban populations of Tanzania. This is mainly due to the urban location
of regional centres and to students’ inadequate access to relevant teaching and
support services such as tutors, library resources and Internet services. The existence
of poor infrastructure and the many technological challenges encountered in rural
areas further exacerbate the situation. Such limitations may make it difficult for
students to develop the intellectual inquiry and critical commentary skills necessary
to make informed decisions, and to acquire the competencies expected of graduates
of higher education programmes. This study presents rich data based on the
immersion of the researcher in the everyday lives of students at the OUT, and
proposes a series of recommendations addressing the development of future policy
and planning for the university
