Effect of Contact Class Attendance on the Academic Success of Open Distance Learning Students in Advanced Certificate in Education Programs

J. M. van Zyl; E. J. Spamer; C. J. Els

doi:10.30935/cedtech/6076

J. M. van Zyl ¹, E. J. Spamer ¹, C. J. Els ¹ ^*

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CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 3, Issue 3, pp. 166-183

https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/6076

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Abstract

The article first explores open distance learning (ODL) as a delivery mode for professional teacher development programs in South Africa by comparing the ODL models of selected universities in developing, developed, and newly industrialized contexts. The article then reports on an empirical investigation conducted about the effect of contact class and vacation school attendance on the academic success of students (n=1310) who wrote examination papers (n=4931) for a variety of modules in four purposefully selected Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) programs at the School of Continuing Teacher Education (SCTE) of the North-West University in South Africa. Descriptive statistics show the majority of students did not attend any contact classes or vacation schools, while still performing academically above average. Computing Spearman’s rank-order correlations (r), no practically significant correlations were found between contact class and vacation school attendance and the academic success of students. However, ANOVA analyses reveal that it was beneficial for students to rather attend three contact sessions, than two or no contact sessions

Keywords: Contact classes, Vacation schools, Class attendance, Academic success, Open distance learning

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Citation

Zyl, J. M. V., Spamer, E. J., & Els, C. J. (2012). Effect of Contact Class Attendance on the Academic Success of Open Distance Learning Students in Advanced Certificate in Education Programs. Contemporary Educational Technology, 3(3), 166-183. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/6076

Zyl, J. M. V., Spamer, E. J., and Els, C. J. (2012). Effect of Contact Class Attendance on the Academic Success of Open Distance Learning Students in Advanced Certificate in Education Programs. Contemporary Educational Technology, 3(3), pp. 166-183. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/6076

Zyl JMV, Spamer EJ, Els CJ. Effect of Contact Class Attendance on the Academic Success of Open Distance Learning Students in Advanced Certificate in Education Programs. CONT ED TECHNOLOGY. 2012;3(3), 166-183. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/6076

Zyl, J. M. van, E. J. Spamer, and C. J. Els. "Effect of Contact Class Attendance on the Academic Success of Open Distance Learning Students in Advanced Certificate in Education Programs". Contemporary Educational Technology 2012 3 no. 3 (2012): 166-183. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/6076

Zyl, J. M. van et al. "Effect of Contact Class Attendance on the Academic Success of Open Distance Learning Students in Advanced Certificate in Education Programs". Contemporary Educational Technology, vol. 3, no. 3, 2012, pp. 166-183. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/6076

Zyl JMV, Spamer EJ, Els CJ. Effect of Contact Class Attendance on the Academic Success of Open Distance Learning Students in Advanced Certificate in Education Programs. CONT ED TECHNOLOGY. 2012;3(3):166-83. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/6076