STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE USE OF INTERACTIVE WHITE BOARDS IN THE DELIVERY OF DISTANCE LEARNING PROGRAMMES

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Due to the need for higher education in South Africa, the country experiences a rapid growth in open distance learning, especially in rural areas. Owing to work pressure and financial constraints, people find it difficult to enrol full time at contact universities. The Unit for Open Distance Learning (UODL) at the Potchefstroom campus of the North-West University (NWU), South Africa, was established in 2013, with its main function to deliver open distance learning programmes to 30 000 students from the Faculties of Education Sciences, Theology and Health Sciences.Utilising interactive whiteboards (IWBs), the NWU and UODL are now able to deliver lectures to students concurrently at 55 regional open learning centres across Southern Africa, as well as to an unlimited number of individuals with Internet access worldwide. Although IWBs are not new, our initiative is to use them more extensively to create more contact between lecturers and students.To ensure and enhance quality education it is vital to determine students’ perceptions on the delivery of programmes by means of IWBs. Thus the aim of the study is to explore students’ perceptions of the use of IWBs in the delivery of programmes.