Assessing the efficacy of open distance learning in South Africa

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore the effectiveness of open distance learning in South Africa. Most developing countries in the world are facing challenges of expanding access to higher education. These challenges are even more acute in places of limited resources and capacity to provide quality higher education for an ever-increasing population. For many countries in Africa, distance education seems to be the only option to play a role in widening participation to higher education problems. While recognising the necessity of distance education in widening access, it must also provide academically credible and quality education content that is effective and efficient. Given the emergence of Covid-19 most universities in South Africa are moving towards the distance education, which author(s) argue that effectiveness of this model is challenged. This paper is purely conceptual and adopts a desktop methodology and to underpin the argument the paper will further rely heavily on the perusal of the available literature to support the argument carried out. Thus, to realize the aim of this article, the author(s) benefited from Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of secondary data covering open distance learning. The article revealed that open distance learning is challenged by covid-19 and that it is not effective. Thus, assessments are done solemnly online which affect the effectiveness of distance education. The article recommends that all provisions and regulations guiding open distance learning needs to be revisited and amended as to make the education more effective even in difficult times.