Distance Education as a Strategy towards Employee Skills Development: A Case Study of Kilimanjaro Region

Abstract

Education is a vital element in the process of innovation and development of: organizations, governments and societies. The need for the employee to develop: skills, knowledge, experiences and competence necessitates that they become innovative towards learning. Distance education is a flexible strategy through which the employee could use to learn in order to meet the changing demands of the workplace. Research questions: what factors influence the uptake of distance education as an innovative learning strategy among employees? To what extent is distance education implemented to develop employees? What is the perception of employees towards distance education as an innovative strategy towards skills development? Research hypotheses: there is a significant difference in the mean perception of workers on the skills development of workers in distance education by gender. The study used a quantitative research approach and the design was correlational survey. The study covered two universities in Kilimanjaro. Data collection was done using: questionnaires and interview schedules. The findings were analysed through frequencies, percentages, means and T-test for the hypotheses. The study found out that: employees had equal opportunity to pursue their career development through distance education and distance education increases competency, improves employee skills and work experience. Also, most employees were involved in distance education however many employees did not receive support for their education from employers. Therefore, the study concluded that distance education has influence on employee development.