| Paper Title: | Assessment of eLearning access - a case study |
| Author: | M. Tunde Oladiran, University of Botswana, oladiran@mopipi.ub.bw |
| Suggested track: | Learning models |
| Presentation type: | Full paper |
| Preferred Category: | Other |
| Abstract: | One of the cardinal points in the government of Botswana’s vision is to create access and increase the quality and relevance of tertiary education in a growing global information era. The University of Botswana (UB) which is currently the only public university in the country has embraced technological change in its teaching and learning environment. For example the eLearning project that was launched in UB about 5 years ago is evolving as an acceptable technology by the academic community. It is pertinent to mention that the University has committed resources to commercial eLearning software (WebCT/Blackboard) instead of using free open source application. The paper presents results of a study to determine students’ perspectives of the eLearning resources during the first of a 2-semester academic year 2007/08. A cohort of third year engineering students was used in the study. The third year of an engineering program at UB is really the first year the students are spending in the cognate department. During the current semester, 3 mechanical engineering courses were delivered using online resource. An electronic questionnaire was administered to the students. There were 24 questions that covered such areas as facilities, resources, access and quality issues. An open ended question enabled students comment on access to eLearning resources. The paper discusses the challenges of using eLearning and proffers solutions to ensure that maximum benefit is derived from technological investments. |
Abstract 1014
