Using Internet resources and e-learning modalities for training learners in Nutrition for people living with HIV and AIDS in South Africa

Abstract

This thesis reports on a study conducted to investigate the design, development and implementation of a learning website as part of a distance education course comprising a combination of media and technology. The website functions as a tool for teaching distance education postgraduate adult learners mostly from previously disadvantaged communities whatever knowledge of nutrition they need to manage the symptoms and general health of people living with human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Before ascertaining such factors, the limitations and concerns associated with the teaching and learning of the learners in question had to be established. The research problem is narrowed down to eight sub-questions in order to establish possible solutions. These sub-questions can be categorised as follows: · Pressures on South African distance higher education institutions, and Internet and computer technology as a solution · Interface design · Web usability · Utilization of a combination of media and technology The study addresses each sub-question by means of an analysis of the published literature, by analysing how the findings of the project shed light on each research sub-question, and how each sub-question illuminated (in a wider sense) the remaining sub-questions, and the research question in general. The answers to the research sub-questions will permit the researcher to determine how the teaching of adult learners from previously disadvantaged communities in the field of nutrition and HIV and AIDS could be made more effective by utilizing a distance education course that comprises a combination of media and technologies. This will then in turn lead to the formulation of strategies and guidelines for the design, development and implementation of e-learning as part a combination of media and technology in order to offer effective postgraduate distance education courses for developing countries. The results of the study could lead to the following possible applications: · A post-graduate distance education course comprising a combination of media and technology · A flexible, self-paced distance education course · An interactive learning website · Instant access to learning content · Offering authentic and reliable information · An alternative medium of offering content