Use of distance education for teacher training and development in Malawi: models, practices, and successes

Abstract

This article argues that the distance education (DE) delivery model has the potential to offer education and training to a greater majority of Malawians who, for one reason or another, cannot be accommodated in the traditional face-to-face delivery model. Motivated by the need to understand the delivery models employed by DE institutions in the country, the technologies they employ, and the need to gauge major successes of this model of provision, an audit study involving Mzuzu University, the Domasi College of Education, the Malawi College of Distance Education, the Department of Teacher Education and Development, Chancellor College, the Malawi Polytechnic, and Aggrey Memorial School was conducted in 2012. This was necessitated by the need to establish the nature and effi cacy of distance education in Malawi. The major fi nding of the study is that, although this model of delivery has allowed access to education and training for people who otherwise would have been denied the opportunity because of the restrictive nature of the face-to-face delivery mode, DE institutions in Malawi continue to face challenges pertaining to the use of basic, rudimentary and often obsolete technologies, which make the delivery model cumbersome for both tutors and learners. The implication is that the full potential of this delivery model has been attenuated by the use of such instructional technologies. The paper recommends that Malawi must invest in the requisite infrastructure and appropriate technologies to enhance the effi cacy of distance education and e-learning as a means of broadening and increasing access to education and training.