University managers Participation in distance Education: what role does Their level of knowledge in Distance education play?

Abstract

University managers have tried to attain improved access and equity in higher education for development. In recent years, there has been a major shift towards Distance Education as universities strive to attain this goal and to strengthen the social pillar of Kenya Vision 2030 development agenda. Use of ICT in teaching and learning in conventional mode of education was thought to be the means to increase access and equity in higher education but this has not been sufficient. More innovations are being explored as the universities struggle with the challenge of access and equity in higher education. Distance education has slowly been adopted in public universities in Kenya. This provides access to higher education by persons who are geographically distant from the institutions of higher learning and those whose responsibilities cannot allow them to attend classes among other challenges. The study sought to establish the extent to which managers’ level of knowledge in Distance Education has influenced their participation in Distance Education activities at the public universities in Kenya. The sample consisted of 196 managers drawn from seven public universities in Kenya. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used in analysis. The results indicated a significant positive correlation between level of knowledge in Distance Education and managers’ participation in Distance Education activities. Based on these findings, it is important to ensure that the managers are trained

in Distance Education and its practice, and how to apply it in order to improve access and equity in higher education in order to support the national and international development agenda