Stakeholders' perception of quality in distance education and its implications for educational administration in Ghana

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine stakeholders’ perception of quality in a distance education programme of a Ghanaian university. The study adopted a case study research design to collect data from 320 students, 56 facilitators and 24 administrative Staff selected randomly from one centre of a Ghanaian university involved in Distance education. The data were collected through the administration of questionnaires. Factor Loadings for the Items of Distance Education Quality was performed. The factor analysis was performed using the Principal Component Analysis extraction method with varimax rotation. The findings indicated that students’ level of awareness of quality assurance practices at the Institute of Distance Learning (IDL) in the Ghanaian university was very low as compared to facilitators and administrators. Regarding stakeholder perceptions of quality of distance education, students rated Support Services high whilst Academic Integrity and Institutional Prestige had a lower scoring. Facilitators’ also rated Support Services higher and rated Infrastructure and Learning Environment lower. Administrators, on the other hand, gave Support Services the highest rating whilst Infrastructure and Learning Environment was rated the lowest. Further analyses revealed that there are significant differences between the mean ratings of Indicators by different stakeholders. The study recommends that educational administrators must have systems in place to ensure adherence to quality standards, build the capacity of staff in modern trends in distance education, and periodically plan and evaluate quality assurance practices among stakeholders.