Open and Distance Learning for Sustainable Development

education. Alternative ways of providing access to higher education via distance education need
to be fully explored because it makes it possible for students anywhere and regardless of their
responsibilities to enroll in open and distance education courses.
Open and distance education could be used to make it possible for secondary school graduates,
only a fraction of whom can be accommodated in tertiary institutions, to enroll directly, and
without leaving their homes, in online colleges and universities on the continent and around the
world. This form of education offers several advantages over the traditional educational system,
including; virtual access to teaching staff in higher institutions around the world; introduction of
new interactive pedagogical techniques (more hands-on learning opportunities, independent
research, less reliance on rote memorization); and, the creation of virtual institutions and linkages
where resources could be shared by people and organizations in physically unconnected places.
The promise of Information Communication Technology (ICT) on the continent and in Kenya is
enormous. ICT is expected to serve as a catalyst to African communities, allowing them to profit
from and contribute to an increasingly globalised society. Emerging ICT holds much promise for
breaking down traditional barriers that have limited higher education opportunities. Today,
through distance learning strategies and computer applications, we can expand the content, extend
the reach, and increase the effectiveness of existing academic programmes. Through emerging
communication technology, effective computer-delivered coursework could be developed while at
the same time improving access to scientific and technical information.
Open and Distance Programme Delivery in Kenya
Currently, ODL programmes are delivered by public and private institutions. These are
institutions that were originally set up to offer residential programmes and are now combining
them with the open and distance programmes (dual mode). This caters for a small proportion of
the population that could benefit from ODL in higher education. The current media services used
in ODL include print (postal and other delivery modes), and electronic (radio, telephone, mobile
telephones, audio tapes, CDs, TV, computers, internet). However, there are both infrastructural
and resource constraints which must be considered in the endeavour to enable students access
ODL programmes in Kenya which include lack of proper communication infrastructure and
electricity that almost make it impossible to access these programmes through electronic media,
and road network. Only a small percentage of the Kenyan population have access to electrical
power and most of whom are in the urban centres. The choice of appropriate media employed in
the ODL in Kenya should therefore take into account the prevailing local circumstances.
Institutional Guidelines
The arrangement for delivery of ODL in our public and private institutions is in dual mode which
is only able to accommodate a limited number of learners. Kenya has not yet taken advantage of
provision of education through a National Open University which has the potential to increase
access to higher education. While Kenya does not have an Open University, there have been
uncoordinated efforts by individual universities to offer programmes in Open and Distance
Learning who have come in to fill a gap which exists in Open and Distance Learning and which
needs to be addressed.
While the government policy is to promote and facilitate private investment in education at all
levels, most private providers have invested in education based on the conventional mode. Little
effort has been made to provide ODL programmes. The already chartered private universities, for
example, are providing programmes in ODL using the authority granted in the charter for
traditional programmes and there exists no provision in the Universities Act (1985) for a private
investor who is interested in ODL only.
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