Students Access to Information Communication Technologies in Open and Distance Learning mode in Tanzania: A case of The Open University of Tanzania

Abstract

The success of open and distance learning programmes relies heavily onhaving an efficient and reliable delivery channel to reach out students. Theutilization of Information Communication Technology (ICT) as a tool to deliverservices to the students provides efficient and reliable delivery channel which isalso cost effective. A study was undertaken to assess the utilization of ICT facilitiesexisting in the Open University of Tanzania (OUT). A sample of 97 from TheUniversity of Tanzania at Dar es Salaam, Mbeya and Arusha regional centers wereinterviewed. The study adopted a cross sectional survey design by using open andclosed ended questionnaires and focus group discussion (FGD). Analysis was doneusing Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software. The study found outthat a number of admitted students who access computers at OUT computer labs isvery small, and those who do visit the labs at most visit it once a week. Internetaccess was also found to be a problem. Majority ranked Yahoo their favouritewesite, followed by OUT website, and Google as favoured websites. In the OUTwebsite the most surfed/used resources were Students Academic RegistrationSystem (SARIS). The resources which focus more on academic issues were visitedless frequently. It is recommended that ICT knowledge and skills to be encouragedto OUT staff and students in order to ensure both stakeholders benefit in improvingthe quality of education offered through ODL Programmes at OUT.

Keywords: Information Communication Technology, Open Distance Learning, ICTavailability, ICT accessibility, ICT use