This chapter
deals with the review of relevant related materials to the study. The review is
done under three broad sub-headings: the conceptual framework, empirical
studies and the summary of reviewed literature.
2.1 Conceptual Framework
Ø Objective of
National Teachers Institute
Ø Type of
instructional resources
Ø Availability,
adequacy and utilization of instructional resources
Ø Instructional
resources in the teaching and learning in NTI/NCE/DLS programme
Ø Attitude of
course tutors.
Review of Empirical Studies
Summary of Literature Reviewed
Conceptual Framework
Distant education has developed
enormously over the last decade. It has become an intrinsic part of many
nations education system in both developed and developing nation as an academic
discipline in his own right (Odili, 1997). The genesis of distant education in
from of correspondence education as it was popularly known sates back to
hundreds of years (Odili 1997). Teaching and learning by correspondence is the
origin of what is today called distant education. The term correspondence was
felt to be too narrow in the opinion of Odili (1997).
According to Garrison (1998), the term
distant education was first adopted in the United Kingdom, North Australia, New
Zealand and other parts of the world. Writing in support, Garrison (1998) noted
that in 1992 at its conference, the International Council for Correspondence
Education (ICCE) changed the name to International Council for Distant
Education (ICDE). In Nigeria the practice started through Isaac Pitman
shorthand course for distant learners in 1990 (Afigbo, 1993). By 1998 several
Nigerians embraced the London distant education of the general certificate of
education (GCE) (Odili 19967). According to Nduanya (1997) other familiar distant
education programmes that serviced Nigeria include the Wolsey Hall, Oxford and
Rapid Results College Landon. He also noted that there was a certain premier
correspondence College in Lagos and posits that distance learning or distant
education is neither new nor limited geographically in it’s application.
Distant education goes by different names such as packaged learning open
learning, programme learning, and has been defined differently.
According to Bunza (1997), distant
education is described as the strategies through which the teacher or a
teaching institution provides space and time for the teacher or the teaching institution
most of the time. He further enumerated essential elements of distant education
to include:
-
The
separation of teacher and learner distinguishes it from face to face teaching.
-
The
influence of an educational organization, which distinguishes it from private
study
-
The
use of technical media usually prints to unite teachers and learners and carry
the educational content.
-
The
provision of two-way communication so that the students may benefit from even
initiate dialogue.
-
The
possibility of occasional meeting for both didactic and socialization purpose.
Nduanua
(1997) sees distance education as a form of communication between the students
and the centers concerned. Odili (1997) attempted a synthesis of the various
forms of distance education to harmonize the internal, inconsistence in the definitions
of distance education and presented three essential criteria in the definition of
distant educational as:
-
Educational
communication between facilitator and learners that occurs non-continuously.
-
Two-way
communication between teachers and learners for the purpose of facilitating and
supporting the educational programme.
-
The
use of technology to mediate the necessary two-way communication.
A
number of factors have really made distance education relevant in the Nigeria
society. According to Afigbo (1993), three factors have been identified namely:
-
Drive
for education for democracy.
-
Pursuit
of education for social equality
-
Growing
popularity of continuing and life long education through which developing
nation can education a number of her society and at minimal cost.
Similarly,
to buttress the above, he opined that conventional education (tending to follow
what is done or considered acceptable by the society in general particularly at
the tertiary level is becoming the monopoly of the rich and calls for the large
population as a means of achieving social equality).
In the final analysis, he noted that
meteoric rise in knowledge calls for a re-education of the adult to cope with
the current explosion in knowledge. This is so because according to him, what
could be considered valuable information today rapidly becomes useless with
time.
The only solution is the continuous need to
up data knowledge and skills of qualified personnel. To challenge the logistic
problems of providing education to large number of persons considering
insufficient material resources calls for a re-appraisal of distance education
in Nigeria. This choice and cost effective measures must be made and implemented
to meet the challenges.
Distant education in Nigeria is faced with
a number of problems ranging from accessibility to study centers and other
forms of study materials to include lack of commitments on the part of the
learners, poor methods of instructional delivery and a number of opposing
cultural practices in the area of preventive maintenance in our societies.
Bunza (1997) identified lack of trained staff, lack of finance problem of
communication, problem of inadequate contact session and lack of political will
be the government on matte of distance education as some of the problems facing
distance education. Also Odili (1997) further noted that lack of institutional readiness
and logistics create more stress and crisis in the practice of distance
education in Nigeria. In his own
contribution, Eya (1996) identified divided loyalty by the learn between their
study and other social responsibilities as threat to the proper practice of
distance education in Nigeria.
In a related development, Eya (1996) identified
insufficiency in the use of modern technological facilities like radio and
television, lack of appropriate infrastructures and lack of good quality
lecture materials as some of the problems of distant education in Nigeria. Also
identified are poor quality and insufficient staffing and lack of competitive
selective machinery to web the chaff from prospective quality students, as
problems militating proper practice of education in Nigeria.
The contributions of distance education
generally are enormous. It provides education for the masses according to Bunza
(1992) and has the capacity of enrolling and training as many students as are
willing to study in the system.
This is made possible
because distant education makes use of the existing facilities including
physical and human resources. Distant education by its nature provides
education at the doorstep of the learners and in comfort of their vicinity, it
likewise provide alternative means of education to those and could both benefit
from the conventional institutions due to problems such as early marriage and
lack of sponsorship from relative.