Tracing Factors that Influence Students’ Success in Open Distance Learning at South African Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

For the past decade, improving students’ success and throughput rates have been a key topic in higher education. International research and South Africa in particular show that the effective implementation of e-learning and various educational technology tools can help improve students’ participation and increase pass rates in distance education. However, to achieve the desired outcomes as well as students’ participation in Open Distance Learning (ODeL) environment other important factors need to be taken into consideration. This includes such factors as students’ background, technology availability, language barrier, and time management among others. Thus, this paper, based on the review of related literature traced factors that affect students’ academic performance and pass rate in the open and distance learning environment in the context of South Africa. The paper also discussed and compared these factors as to provide a guideline that can be used by educational practitioners to address issues faced by students in the South African context.

Keywords

• higher education
• open distance learning
• students success