REVIEW OF LITERATURE ON ADULT & DISTANCE EDUCATION -the Nigerian Case (original) (raw)

REVIEW OF LITERATURE ON ADULT & DISTANCE EDUCATION

- the Nigerian Case.

Presented as part of a PGDE project at National Teachers’ Institute (NTI), Kaduna, Nigeria

By Mohammed Awal M.

ADULT & DISTANCE EDUCATION - Concepts and Nuances

Since NTI essentially offers education to adults by Distance Learning, it is apposite to examine the concept and ramifications of adult and distance education here.

ADULT EDUCATION

While not getting bogged down in the marshy mire of numerous, contending definitions of adult education we shall examine a few. Lowe in NTI PGDE Course book on Adult & Non Formal Education lamented the seeming confusion and diversity in concept and definitions of adult education giving rise to as he said, “a perplexing welter of names such as fundamental education, social education, mass education, continuing education, life-long learning and education populaire”.

One current of definitions views adult education as embracing learning undertaken voluntarily by people in their mature years without necessarily being for vocational value though with the twin major purposes of: (i) to make adults in the community aware of individual and community needs and; (ii) giving such education as will enable them (adults) to cope with current problems (Sheats, Jane & Spence, 1953 in NTI PGDE Course book on Adult & Non Formal education).

UNESCO and others are of the view that adult education should be concerned with the development of personal abilities and aptitudes, and encouragement of social, moral and intellectual responsibility in relation to local, national and world citizenship. Bertelsen (1974) in NTI Course book broadened the concept of adult education to “any learning experience designed for adults irrespective of content, level and methods used…”. Coombs (1974) further widens its scope to "any organized, systematic educational activity carried on outside the framework of the formal

system to provide selected types of learning to particular subgroups in the population, adults as well as children".

NTI Course book on Adult & Non Formal Education has advanced that
adult education is a process whereby skills, knowledge and attitudes are acquired and exchanged on a voluntary and often part-time basis by persons with full time occupations and in which their values, experiences and problems are not merely taken into consideration in the design, planning, implementation and evaluation of all learning activities. In addition, they partake actively in each of these stages.

Osuji (2007) opined that adult education is education program designed for adults. That is, designed for people who are mentally mature and socially responsible. Ajay Kumar (2012) explains that today adult education includes basic education, continuing professional education, adult literacy training, education for basic skills, vocational training, education for sustainable development, education for community development.

UNESCO has attempted to bring the various tendencies in a rather elaborate definition of Adult education thus:

The entire body of organized educational processes whatever the content, level and method, whether formal or otherwise, whether they prolong or replace initial education in schools, colleges and Universities as well as in apprenticeship- whereby persons regarded as adults by the society to which he belongs, develop their abilities, enriching their knowledge, improve their technical or professional qualification, or turn them in a new direction and bring about changes.

Adult education serves different purposes for different adults. National Policy on Adult education in s. 7 states the objectives of adult education as:
a. To provide functional literacy education for adults who have never had the advantage of any formal education.
b. To provide functional and remedial education for those young people who prematurely dropped out of the formal school system.

c. To provide further education for different categories of completers of the formal education system in order to improve their basic knowledge and skills;
d. To provide in-service, on-the-job, vocational and professional training for different categories of workers and professionals in order to improve their skills;
e. To give the adult citizens of the country necessary aesthetic, cultural and civic education for public enlightenment.

Essential characteristics of adults as learners that have impact for managing them includes: they are:

Lieb (1991) has argued that “an ideal adult learning climate has a non-threatening, non-judgmental atmosphere in which adults have permission for and are expected to share in their learning”. There appears to be consensus that adult learning is largely experiential, the hallmark of which, according to Yanachi et.al. (2006), is that learning is facilitated through experience and hands-on techniques such as simulations and case studies. Scholars like Stuart and his colleagues (2004) in Yanachi (2006) are of contrary opinion. Some believe this technique is more effective as against the more didactic, traditional instructional models.

Regardless of the position, the characteristics of adults as learners (outlined above) pose challenges to management of their education. At the least, they task their educational managers to create the ambience (environment) to be themselves, learn at their own terms and in their own way.

As Tusting & Barton in Yanachi (2006) summarized, "most of the models of adult learning developed from within adult education move beyond examinations of learning as a decontextualized process to address questions relating to the meanings of, and motivations for learning in people’s lives. This may be in terms of

self direction, autonomy, problem solving or transformation and recalls, from a different perspective the intrinsically socially-situated nature of learning. The key point to note from this is that learning is real issues and we therefore need to try to understand and make links with these.

Osuji (2007) made a strong case for adult education when he contended that “it should be realized that while the formal system of education is selective, elitist and discriminatory, adult education takes care of a wider clientele and is nondiscrimination in any society”

DISTANCE EDUCATION & DISTANCE LEARNING

Decree 7 of 1978 set forth NTI as a distance learning institute. Distance education, (often used interchangeably with Distance Learning, Open and Distance Learning (ODL), Open and Distance education) has been variously defined (Sherry, 1996). Despite the variety of definitions however, the concept of distance is fairly well understood, and the potential importance of distance education in the future is also generally acknowledged (Kim & Shih, 2003). As Salawu, Ojo & Olakulehin (2010) explain:

Open and Distance Learning (ODL) has come of age so soon. It has metamorphosed from its early confusing stage in terms of what its meaning should be and what it can do to an age in which it has been established as a unique educational discipline as compared to the conventional educational system. Before now, distance education included a wide range of teachinglearning strategies such as correspondence education, home study, independent study, external studies, sandwich programme and part-time studies, among others.

However, with the establishment of the Open University of United Kingdom in 1969 and several others in different part of the globe, it has been widely acknowledged that open and distance education is a form of education that should be recognized as one in which a completely different mode of instructional delivery is utilized in an attempt to provide educational services.

Obioha & Ndidi (2011) argued that distance education is a “form of education and training in which using learning resources rather than attending classroom sessions, is the central feature of learning experience.” It is a form of education that focuses on the pedagogy, technology and instructional systems design s that aim to deliver

education to students who are not physical “on site” in a traditional classroom or campus. They furthermore, noted that distance education is the process of creating an education experience of equal quality for the learner to best suit their needs outside the classroom situation.

Holmberg (1998) in Salawu et.al.(2010) view adult education as “the various forms of study at all levels which are under continuous, immediate supervision of tutors present with their students in lecture rooms on the same premises, but which nevertheless, benefit from the planning, guidance and tuition of a tutorial organization”.

Sherry (1996) attempting a synthesis of other authors advanced that the hallmarks of distance education are:

The separation of teacher and learner creates a need for a medium through which to connect with the mind of the learner somehow. Hence Miller (1993)'s contention as cited in Wikipedia (2012) that adult education seeks to provide access to learning when the source of information and the learners are separated by time and distance, or both. Interestingly, Keegan (1995) in Valentine (2002) argues that the technical separation of teacher and learner frees the student from the necessity of travelling to a fixed place, at a fixed time, to meet a fixed person, in order to be trained.

The use of technology or some learning resources is paramount in distance education as instruction cannot be delivered face-to-face. This is emphasized in Greenberg (1998) in Valentine (2002) thus: distance learning is a planned teaching learning experience that uses a wide spectrum of technologies to reach learners at a distance and is designed to encourage learner interaction and certification of learning.

CHARACTERISTICS OF DISTANCE LEARNING

A synthesis of Valentine (2002); Encyclopedia Britannica.com (2012); Galusha (2008); Commonwealth of Learning & ADB (1999) reveal the following features of distance education:
i. Spatial and/or temporal separation: separation of teacher and learner in space (Geographic) and time.
ii. Institutional Basis: Learning is done in an institution not by unrecognized self study or in non-academic environment. The institutions many not offer traditional classroom-based instruction but they are eligible for accreditation by the same agencies as those using traditional methods.
iii. Use of Mixed Media Courseware: these include print, radio, TV, video and audio cassettes, computer-based learning and telecommunications.
iv. Interactive Telecommunications especially between teacher and learner. Also between student and students forming learning communities. E-mails, calls etc. are used. Social networking media e.g. Facebook, YouTube etc also used.
v. Possibility of Face-to-Face Meetings for tutorials, learner-learner interaction, library study, laboratory/practice sessions/exams etc.
vi. Use of Industrialized Process: in large scale ODL operations, division of labour and tasks is used for different aspects of the course.

OPERATIONAL TASKS IN RUNNING A DISTANCE LEARNING PROGRAMME

Commonwealth of Learning and ADB (1999) outlined major tasks thus:
i. Funding & Provisioning: obtaining and managing money and other resources.
ii. Course Development: developing or acquiring programs and courses.
iii. Recruiting and Promoting (staff and students).
iv. Training and Developing Staff
v. Production and Dissemination of Courseware

vi. Enrolling & Registration (of students)
vii. Delivering Programs and Courses.
viii. Providing Learner Support
ix. Examining, Crediting & Granting Credentials
x. Review: Evaluating and Revising processes, procedures, programs and course.

TYPOLOGY OF DISTANCE EDUCATION SYSTEMS

Distance education has been classified using different criteria.
a. CLASSIFICATION BY LEARNING MODE: under this classification, distance learning systems are classified into single mode, dual mode and hybrid systems

b. CLASSIFICATION BY TECHNOLOGY/DELIVERY SYSTEM

Johns & Knezek (2002) in an excellent article exploring categorization of Distance Learning systems used “potential delivery systems” to divide DLS into three i.e. Correspondence, Broadcast, and Interactive. A delivery system is essentially the manner in which instruction or information is delivered or conveyed to the student of distance education.

instructional material is a package (print, books, manuals, CDs, Video and email) delivered to the learner and used by a learner independently. As Johns & Knezek (2002) averred: “there is a significant time delay between instructor dissemination and student receipt of information”

Johns & Knezek (2002) cautioned, “it must be noted that these systems outlined are representations and that most existing delivery systems use some hybrid type to deliver instruction, such as combining correspondence with broadcast or interactive types.” It appears the National Universities Commission (NUC) has preference for single mode institutions hence their guideline: “ODL programmes shall be predicated on a pedagogy that is led by resources and not reliant on face to face intervention”

FACTORS AFFECTING SUCCESS OF DLS

Johns & Knezek (2012) provide a befitting preface to this discussion thus:
as important as it is, the technology of a delivery system is only one of the factors when examining what works and does not work in distance education. The characteristics of the teacher and learner, and the content to be delivered, must determine the final learning outcomes. Research has shown that methods which actively engage the student in the learning process are most successful.

Asodike & Jegede (2010) drew our attention to the factor they call “Quality of Instruction” which consists of pedagogy, course design and course materials. They advocated for use of print as instructional medium and suggested that "textbooks and modules (study guides) should include exercise, related reading and additional

resources available to students. Workbooks should contain more exercises, quiz or test (with answer key) for self assessment. Of course, the course materials must be of very high quality and completeness… The course syllabus must be as complete as possible in order to guide the students through the course in the absence of daily contact with the teacher.

Obioha & Ndidi (2012) outlined the following factors:
i. Use of experts in Educational Administration as Managers of Distance Education.
ii. Adequate office and classroom accommodation.
iii. Prompt payment of facilitator’s entitlements.
iv. Leadership style of Centre Managers/Administrators.
v. Funding adequacy.
vi. Public and Government attitude to Distance education
vii. Technology support (availability, affordability and reliability).
viii. Course Materials (availability, adequacy and sufficiency)
ix. Superiority of Centre Manager/Director’s education/qualification relative to facilitators he/she oversees (in staff discipline)
x. Absence of supervisors for centres from the headquarters. i.e. supervisors that supervise the centre.

Hordzi (2009) has emphasized the importance of good testing and student feedback system (evaluation system) (since students of distance learning are usually isolated and have lesser means of comparing their progress with other colleagues), security and integrity of the test is to be assured and students fear of test be assuaged.

Asodike & Ebong (2012) drew attention to the requirement for what they called “educational resources” which they said “constitute input into the educational system that determine largely the implementation of the educational programs and invariably, objectives attainment”. These resources consist of:

They further posited that there is growing evidence that outputs of educational programs at all levels are affected by a variety of social, psychological, and environmental factors. However, as they insist, the environmental factor seems to be the visible factor where the general populace attention is drawn in educational program delivery. Often, parents and guardian complain of insufficient number of teachers and inadequacy of available infrastructure to match the increase in enrolment associated with government policies on free and compulsory education globally.

They thus concluded that “invariably the quality and quantity of inputs into a program contributes significantly to bridge the gap that led to the initiation of such program, therefore determine the success of such educational program initiative”.

With a large Distance Learning System like NTI, decentralization and dispersal of study centres is crucial for success (Asodike, Dibunwayi & Mfon, 2012). In Nigeria and many developing countries, inadequate electric power supply has been cited as a limiting factor especially to application of technology to distance learning (Salawu et.al, 2010; Asodike & Jegede, 2010).

Daniels (2004) in Salawu et.al (2010) outlined key factors for success and sustainability in distance education as:

More operationally, Salawu et.al (2010) detail, content factors for success and sustainability as:

They also drew attention to the importance of counseling support for the student.
Commonwealth of Learning in a report by Commonwealth of Learning (2008) gives success factors to include: capacity building, infrastructural development, extent of networking within and outside Nigeria.

PROBLEMS & CHALLENGES OF DISTANCE LEARNING/EDUCATION

Wikipedia (2012) defined a problem “as an obstacle, impediment, difficulty or challenge, or any situation that invites resolution, the resolution of which is recognized as a solution or contribution toward a know purpose or goal. A problems implies a desired outcome coupled with an apparent deficiency, doubt or inconsistency that prevents the outcome from taking place.”

Bruce Erickson (2009) defines challenge as the difference between an existing situation (as one makes sense of it) and the specific outcomes of a process intended to change the existing situation." Successfully overcoming a challenge brings about a specific, desired outcome or not.

For the sake of this research problem and challenge will be used interchangeably.

NTI PGDE Course manual on Adult & Non Formal Education outlined four key problems of Distance learning to include:

Umar (2006) emphasized the challenges of internal quality assurance which he says denotes “processes and practices that are designed and executed by NTI in order to ensure that its products are of high quality and are comparable with those of the conventional institutions in the country”. He then listed areas of assurance of relevance:

Buchanan (2000) drawing from Smith (1999) argued that new ethical challenges are emerging different from traditional ethical challenges to educators which include respect for cultural sensitivity, fulfilling missions of the institutions, striving to enhance personal and intellectual development of persons, and avoiding abuses of power and seniority. She maintained that "educators in the distance education environment face new ethical dilemmas different from the traditional ones. She detailed some of these emerging ethical challenges to include: intellectual property issues (copyright, ownership of course materials, data/media manipulation, reuse of materials by other instructors), ease of access, displacement of teachers, accommodation of minorities (ethnic, race or gender). To these, will be added the challenge of accommodating adult learners by tempering academic rigour of standards with the need to allow for adult learners’ overwhelming load of responsibilities and pressures (that limit his intellectual focus and acuity). The

dilemma is how to give consideration to the adult learner without compromising standards.

Kim & Shih (2003) have categorized challenges of distance education into:

Israeli (2007) itemized some of the challenges of distance education to include: quality of instructional materials, cost of technology, misuse and unfitted technology for different environments and populations, occasional technical hardware problems related to equipment, study materials, connectivity, unfavourable attitude of instructors and administrators and lack of personal interaction between learners and teach which may cause participants, both trainees and instructors, to feel somewhat isolated.

Valentine (2002) in a similar manner identifies the following specific problems:

personnel costs including training of technicians handling technological equipment.

Galusha (2008) also outline barriers to distance learning to include:

Sines (2009) lists some challenges of distance learning programs to include:

Yusuf (2006) identified some peculiarly Nigerian problems of open and distance education:

In a similar manner, Ajadi (2010) identified the following challenges facing National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) and hence distance education in Nigeria:

Coming from a different vantage point, Burgstahler, Smith and Coombs (2002) have drawn our attention to the challenges of providing accessible distance education for people with disabilities. They gave a very interesting example:

It does a non-signing student who is deaf little good when the videoconferencing system for his distance education class does not have captioning and the video

signal is too weak for lip reading. Similarly, a faculty member who is blind will have problems participating in real time chats of her online distance education course if the chat function is inaccessible to her assistive technology (e.g. screen reader).

They concluded that since many institutions plan to broaden the use of technology in distance education, these issues must be addressed. The challenge here is for procurement of devices and content that have native accessibility and interoperability to ensure non-discrimination against students with disability.

ADMINISTARTIVE & MANAGERIAL CONSTRAINTS/PROBLEMS OF MANAGING DLS

Obioha & Ndidi (2011) identified the following:
i. Appointment of non-specialists in educational administration and planning as Centre Directors.
ii. Accommodation problems
iii. Lack of Facilitators in some courses (qualified ones don’t want to participate in ODL)
iv. Autocratic style of leadership by most centre directors.
v. Inadequate funding
vi. Lack of receptiveness to open and distance education by most Nigerians.
vii. Inability of Centre Directors to identify and recruit committed facilitators.
viii. High cost technology to support the program.
ix. Insufficient and unequal distribution of course materials.
x. Staff indiscipline.
xi. Course allocation conflicts and abuse (Man-know-man in allocating more courses to lady friends, relations and old boys of the Centre Director /Manager).
xii. Inaccurate data for planning.
xiii. Lack of supervisor of centre.
xiv. Irregular payment and omission of some facilitator’s honorarium.

xv. Manager’s own problems: including leadership style, neglect of duty, abetting exam malpractice and involvement in corrupt practices (e.g. fraud, extortion and sale of scripts and marks).

PROSPECTS & PROMISES OF DISTANCE EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

Distance learning is increasingly gaining in popularity (Levy, 2003; Valentine, 2002). eHow.com (2012) quoted Campus Technology, an American journal as reporting that nearly 12million students took some or all of their courses online as of 2009, and that number is expected to double by 2014. Similarly Encyclopedia Britannica.com (2012) reported that in the autumn of 2009 more than 5.6 million university students enrolled in at least one online course in US higher education. Here in Nigeria, Ajadi (2010) demonstrated vividly that the population of eligible university candidates would be on the increase year after year yet our existing universities can’t carry all. It is open university and distance education that will come to the rescue with enough carrying capacity to mop up the excess.

In realization of this, Galusha (2008) has argued that in preparing to enter the next century, educators of adults face the challenge of serving a student population and society that is increasingly diverse. Moving into the next century, the adult student population is expected to be the fastest growing segment of higher education, and in fact, older students will constitute the majority. He quoted Cantelon (1995) to the effect that most higher education will take place off campus through technological methods.

Wikipedia (2012) related Oblinger (2000)'s identified areas of broad promises of distance learning program:

Valentine (2002) buttressed the above future benefits of distance education by noting that it will:

Kim & Shih (2003) ventured into possibilities and future developments in technology (what they called Intelligent technology) which they said “some of the issues have been partially solved, while several issues related to intelligent technology remain open” some of those that could greatly facilitate distance teaching-learning include:

assigned points in student’s performance. An intelligent agent can be implemented to grade chat room participations. Misleading or irrelevant conversations can be reported to the instructor.

EFFECTIVENESS IN STUDY CENTRE MANAGEMENT

Mani (2011) let us know:
that the renowned management guru Peter F. Drucker was the first to define and distinguish between effectiveness and efficiency. Drucker defined ‘Effectiveness as doing Right Things’ and ‘Efficiency as doing Things Right’. As can be seen from the definition, Effectiveness comes first and is of a higher level and then comes efficiency. Any institution has to determine first what are the right things to do and then do the same right, that is, maximize the efficiency. Four basic models have been developed and proposed by researchers that provide diverse perspectives on organizational effectiveness.

The New Webster’s Dictionary (1995) defines effectiveness as “causing or capable of causing a desired or decisive result”. Lucey (2005) defines effectiveness as producing the desired results. Effectiveness has to do with actual results viz-a-viz the planned or budgeted result. It is the relationship between a unit or organizational output and its objectives. It also concerns the extent to which an organisation or indeed a program achieves its goals or other intended effects (Mustapha, 1997).
e-How.com (2012) notes: Managerial effectiveness is gauged by the results a leader achieves. Results are generally believed to be influenced by the organization’s established culture. Graham Williamson (2012) posited that factors that influence managerial effectiveness include: you, your job, the people you work with and your organization.

Bhattacharya (2011) notes that
The key element towards managerial effectiveness is to get people to do their jobs and get them to do it in the best of their abilities. How does one really get the employees to do the job well? It is challenging to align people’s delivery to

the targets to be achieved from the organisation and from the managers’ perspective. It is an ongoing exploratory journey and every manager figures out his own style and mantra to do that. Over a period of time one realizes there is no magic mantra to get the best out of the employees as no employee is same as the other and it is an incredibly challenging task to deal with diverse people and make them work towards one goal.

Lotus (2009) outlined a five step scheme for improving managerial effectiveness thus:

The Five Phased Approach

1 - Extraordinary Performance

Understanding personality type
Δ\Delta Identifying “my” personality type with its strengths and soft spots
Δ\Delta Identifying team temperaments and resulting strengths and soft spots
□\square Generation of action plans to deal with strengths and soft spots - individual and team.
□\square Understanding different kinds of behaviors, and utilizing appropriate skills to handle them.

2 - Goal Relationship Balance

Δ\Delta Achieving personal and organizational goals effectively while maintaining relationships.
Δ\Delta Handling sensitive, difficult and awkward situations in a balanced and professional way
Δ\Delta Understanding the importance of “what” is being said and also paying attention to “how” it is being said

3 - Coaching And Mentoring

Dealing with difficult colleagues while maintaining team atmosphere
Δ\Delta Feedback to enable enhanced performance
Δ\Delta Facilitating openness within the team, hence strengthening bonds

4 - Empathy

Δ\Delta Focusing and capturing the others’ requirement and making them feel ‘understood’
Δ\Delta Demonstrating sensitivity, while retaining objectivity

5 - Enrollment

Δ\Delta Being able to read between the lines and looking for cues in the conversation. (An effective communicator listens to more than just what is said)

Asking appropriate questions and leading the conversation
Facilitating ownership by exploring alternatives and generating solutions

In summary, the ethos of effectiveness is that systems and managers should motivate employees and managers to exert their best effort toward attaining organizational goals. The primary criterion for evaluating a system is how it promotes the collective attainment of top management goals. As Mustafa (1997) pointed out: “in the absence of profitability measures, the assessment of public sector performance must be done in terms of the derived criteria of good management.” And these are: economy, efficiency and effectiveness.

SYSTEM PERSPECTIVE IN ADULT EDUCATION

Since this research intends to view Distance Learning System from the system perspective, it is apposite here to examine system theory as reported in the literature.

Thomson (2004) in a DEOSNEWS editorial noted that “periodically discussion resumes around the question of whether there is a need for theories unique to the field of distance education or whether distance education is a practice that better lends itself to the application of theories from other disciplines”

There are misgivings in some scholarly circles as to applicability of system thinking to education. In spite of this, Smith & Dillon (1999) in Shaffer (2003) argued that “distance education must be examined as a system, but to do so requires looking at the system and the variables that make up the systems, sometimes a few at a time.”

GST (General Systems Theory), system theory, systems dynamics etc. are used in the literature interchangeably to describe what Ray (2000) citing Miller (1978) defined as “a set of related definitions assumptions and propositions that deal with reality as an integrated hierarchy of organizations of matter and energy”. A system is an arrangement of certain components so interrelated to form a whole (Klir, 1972) in Ray (2000).

Systems theory looks at an entity as a system of components harmoniously working together to achieve a goal. As Ray (2000) opines, GST is particularly applicable to system with goal seeking behavior, with biological and social systems being the primary domains of such goal seeking behavior.

Ludwig von Bertalanfy (a German biologist) is reputed to be the founder of systems theory. Ray (2000) relates that von Bertalanfy began thinking of systems theory as far back as the 1930s but due to unfavourable intellectual climate, did not air his ideas until much later in the 1950s. He developed theory at first as a rigorous method of describing the structure and mechanisms of complex systems.

Heylighen & Joslyn (1992) defined systems theory as the transdisciplinary study of the abstract organisation of phenomena, independent of their substance, type, or spatial or temporal scale of existence. It investigates both the principles common to all complex entities and the (usually mathematical) models which can be used to describe them.

They explained that GST was propounded as von Bertalanfy was both reacting to reductionism in science and attempting to revive the unity of science. He gives a succinct surmise of tenets of systems theory:

Real systems are open to, and interact with their environments, and that they acquire qualitatively new properties rather than reducing an entity (e.g. the human body) to the properties of its parts or elements (e.g. organs or cells), system theory focuses on the arrangement of and relations between the parts which connect them into a whole. … system concepts include: system environment, input, output, process, state, hierarchy, goal-directedness, and information.

Pegasuscom.com (2012) defines systems thinking as “a way of understanding reality that emphasizes the relationships among a system of parts, rather than the parts themselves”. A system has been defined as "a group of interacting, interrelated, and interdependent components that form a complex and unified whole. They outlined the defining characteristics of systems:

Describing educational system, Chang (2008) notes: Like any other system, educational system has inputs, processes, outputs, and outcomes.

Chang’s description of the educational system calls for implementers of policies to give sufficient consideration to the quality of provisions (inputs) made for educational programs at all sub-sectors since they impact on how well the anticipated outputs are effectively produced.

More specifically, the NTI Minna & Mokwa study centres are represented as a system with the inputs, transformations, outputs and outcomes in the schematic below:
img-0.jpeg

The research examined each of the elements in the system model above with a view to finding how it facilitates or hinders the centre manager’s effectiveness in discharging his duties.

REFERENCES

Ajadi, T.O. (2010). Prospects and Challenges of Open University of Nigeria, European Journal of Social Sciences. 12(3).
From: http://www.eurojournals.com/ejss-12-3-04.pdf
Answers.com (2012). What is the difference between problems and challenges? http://www.answers.com/

Asodike, J. Dibugonwanyi & Ebong, J. Mfon (2012). Resource Provision for Implementation of National Teachers’ Institute (NTI) Kaduna, Distance Learning Programme in South-South, Nigeria. Global journal of Human Social Sciences, Linguistics and Education. 12(10).
http://globaljournals.org/GJHSS\_volume12/2\_Resource\_provision\_for\_the.pdf
Asodike, J. & Jegede, K.T. (2010). Students’ Assessment of Course Delivery Systems of National Teachers’ Institute (NTI), Kaduna, Study Centres in SouthSouth Geo-political Zone, Nigeria.
http://www.saide.org.za/resources/conf%202010/Asodike and jegede.STUDENTASSESSMENTOF COURSE DELIVERY SYSTEMSOF NTI1.pdf

Bhattacharya, Sudakshina (2011). 8 Easy Ways For Managerial Effectiveness What are Effective Managerial Skills? http://www.hrcrest.com/category/hr-development/performance-management/

Bernard, R.M., Lou, Y. & Abrami, P.C. (2006). Comparing Distance Education and Traditional Education: an “In-Progress” Meta-Analysis of the Empirical Literature. http://www…360doc.com/userhome.aspx?userid=96018cid=7

Britain-Nigeria Education Trust (BNET) (2012). National Teachers’ Institute, Kaduna: Stakeholder Overview. http://www.britain-nigeria.org/

Buchanan, Elizabeth (2000). Emerging Ethical Issues in Distance Education. CPSR Newsletter 18(2):2000.
http://www.cpsr.org/prevsite/publications/newsletters/issues/2000/buchanan.htm
Burghstahler, S.’ Smith, J. & Coombs, N. (2002). Issues in Assessing Distance Education Technologies for Individuals with Disabilities.
http://staff.washington.edu/sherylb/summit.html
Chenail, Ronald J. (1995). Presenting Qualitative Data. The Qualitative Report, 2(3). http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR3/presenting.htm

Cohen, S., Eimicke, W., Kamlet, M. & Pearson, R. (1998). The Information Resource Management Program: A Case Study in Education. Journal of Public Affairs Education. 4(3):179-92 July 1998.
http://www.eric.edu.gov/ERICWebportal/search…
Colostate.edu (2012). Case Studies.
http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/guide.cfm?guideid=60
Commonwealth of Learning & ADB (1999). Learner Support in Open and Distance Learning. http://www.col.org/PublicationDocument/pub-learner-support-06-web.pdf

Commonwealth of Learning (2000). An Introduction to Open and Distance Learning. http://www.col.org/ODLIntro/introODL.htm

Commonwealth of Learning (2012). Draft Report. Evaluation of Capacity Building of National Teachers’ Institute, Kaduna.
http://www.col.org/SiteCollectionDocument/EDU\_AU\_C08-287\_NTI\_COL %20RR2%20FINIAL.pdf

Ebirim, Ugomma & Ukenwa, Getrude (2011). Utilization of Instructional Materials in Distance Education Programme in Nigeria.
http://www.acadmicexcellencesociety.com/utilization\_of\_instructional\_materials.h tm
eHow.com What Is the Meaning of Managerial Effectiveness?
http://www.ehow.com/about\_6697806\_meaning-managerial-effectiveness\_.html Encyclopedia Britannica.com (2012). Distance Learning.
http://britannica.com/EBchecked/…
Erickson, Bruce (2009). What is a challenge?
http://netfiles.uiuc.edu/baerick2/www/13ch\_v1/miscinfo/chall-doer.htm
Garrison, Randy (2000). Theoretical Challenges for Distance Education in the 21st 21^{\text {st }} Century: A shift from structural to transactional issues. The International Review of Research in Open & Distance Learning. 1(1).
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/2/460

Galusha, J.M. (2008). Barriers to Learning in Distance Education. The Instructional Network. http://www.infrastruction.com/barriers.htm

Gerring, John (2004). What is a Case Study and what is it Good for? American Political Science Review. 98(2):May 2004.
http://www.ucalgary.ca/ nmstuewe/casestudy/whatisacasestudy.pdf
Helighen, Francis & Joslyn, Cliff (1992). What is Systems Theory? Principia Cybernetica web: http://pepsmc1.vub.ac.be/sysapr.htm

Hofkirchner, Wolfgang (2008). Ludwig von Bertalanffy: Forerunner of Evolutionary Systems Theory. http://www.bertalanffy.org/media/pdf/pdf41.pdf

Hordzi, W.H.K. (2009). The Disposition of distance Learners Towards success in their First University Examinations at The Winneba Study Centre of University of Education, Winneba, Ghana. Global Journal of Educational Research 8(1 & 2):43-49. http://www.ajol.info/index.php/gjedr/article/view/53767

Israeli, Uzi (2001). Distance Learning: Concepts, Technology & Methodology. http://mashav.mfa.gov.il/mfm/data/128937.pdf

Jones, Greg & Knezek, Gerald (1995). Categorizing Distance Learning Systems: Discovering Successful Ingredients In J.D. Tinsley & T.J. van Weert (Eds.), Abstract of the World Conference on computers in Education. vi(p.157). Birmingham UK: International Federation of Information Processing. http://www.tapr.org/ wd5ivd/wcce95.dist.edu.sys.pdf

Keegan, O. (1980). On Defining Distance Education. Distance Education journal 1,1,13-36.

Kim, Won & Shih, Thomas K. (2003). Distance education: the Status and Challenges. Journal of Object Technology. 2(6): 35-43. http://www.jot.fm/issues/issue200311/column3

Kumar, Ajay (2012). Philosophical Background of Adult and Lifelong Learning. http://www.unesco.org/education/aladin/paladin/pdf/unit03.pdf

Levy, Susan (2003). Six Factors to Consider When Planning Online Distance Learning Programs in Higher Education. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration vi(i). http://www…westga.edu/ distance/…

Lieb, S. (1991). Principles of Adult Learning.
http://www.lindenwood.edu/education/andragogy/andragogy/2011/Lieb\_1991.pdf
Lucey, T. (2005). Management Information Systems. 9th 9^{\text {th }} Edition: Thomson Learning.

Mani, L.R.S. (2011). Organization Effectiveness in Management Education Institutions. http://www.icmis.net/informis/icoqm10/ICOQM10CD/pdf/P477final.pdf

Mustapha, H.A.(1997). “Pragmatics of Accountability and Probity in the Civil Service”. Management in Nigeria. Journal of Nigerian Institute of Management. NegroPress:Lagos. 33(2).

National Center for Technology Innovation (NCTI) (2012). Case Study. http://www.nationaltechcenter.org/index.php/products/at-researchmethods/casestudy

National Policy on Education (2004). Abuja: Government Press.
National Teachers’ Institute NTI (2010). Information and Study Guide for Students of the Advanced & PostGraduate Diploma Programmes. Kaduna: NTI Press.

National Universities Commission NUC (2010). Guidelines for Open and Distance Learning in Nigerian Universities. Abuja: NUC.
http://www.nuc.edu/nucsite/File/ODL%20REVISED%20GUIDELINES%20FOR% 20NIGERIAN%20UNIVERSITIES.pdf

New Webster’s Dictionary (1995). NY: Lexicon Publications, Inc.
Nwaocha, V.O. & Inyiama, H.C. (2008). Open and Distance Learning: Successful Implementation in Nigeria.
http://www.nou.edu.ng/noun/acde2008/acde\_en/papers/pdf/SUBTHEME%20PDF/open%20and%20Distance%20Learning.pdf

Olojede, A.A.(2008). Issues and Challenges in Enhancing Quality Assurance in Open and Distance Learning in Nigeria.
http://www…ou.nl/docs/campagnes/ICDE2009/papers/Fina\_paper\_155Mannan.pd ff

OnlineNigeria.com (2012). Educational Administration and Organisation. http://www.onlineNigeria.com

Obioha, M.F. & Ndidi, U.B. (n.d.). Administartive Problems of Open Distance Education in Nigeria. A Case Study of National Open University of Nigeria. Proceedings of the 1st 1^{\text {st }} International Technical, Research and Environmental Conference. African society for Scientific Research. http://www.hrmars.com/admin/pics/239.pdf

Osuji, S.N. (2007). Education for Fullness: the Role of Adult Education in Nigeria in the 21st 21^{\text {st }} Century. http://www.usca.edu/essays/vol182006/osuji.pdf

Pegasus.com (2012). What is Systems Thinking?

http://blog.pegasus.com/what-is-systems-thinking/

Ray, Fleming (2000). General Systems Theory: a Knowledge Domain in Engineering Systems. ESD. 83 Research seminar in Engineering Systems. http://web.mit.edu/esd.83/www/notebook/gst.pdf

Rumajoge, R., Jeeroburkhan, F., Mohadeb, P. & Moonesamy, V. (2003). Case Study on Distance Education in Africa. ADEA Biennial Meeting 2002. http://www.wikieducenter.org/images/4/47/Adeapdf

Salawu, I.O., Adeoye, F.A., Ojo, O.D. & Olakulehin, F.K. (2010). Sustainability Indices as Measures of Service Delivery in Open and Distance Learning in Nigeria. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education-TOJDE 11(1). 3. http://tojde.anadolu.edu.tr/tojde37/articles/article3.htm

Shaffer, Steven C. (2003). System Dynamics in Distance Education and a Call to Develop a Standard Model.
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/268/458
Shery, L. (1996). Issues in Distance learning. International Journal of Educational Telecommunication. 1(4) 337-365.
http://home.comcast.net/ lorrines.sherry/publication/issues.html
Sines, Vonda (2009). How to Overcome Distance Education Problems. http://voices.yahoo.com/how\_overcome\_distance\_education\_problems\_3423248 .html

Soy, Suzan K. (1997). The Case Study as a Research Method. Unpublished paper. University of Texas at Austin.
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/ ssoy/usesusers/1391d1b.htm
Thomson, Melody (Ed.). (2004). DESONEWS- The Uses of Systems Theory in Distance Education: An Annotated Bibliography. http://www.ed.psu.edu/acsde/deos/deosnews/deosnews13\_7pdf

Tellis, Winston (1997). Application of a Case Study Methodology. The Qualitative Report vol3(3) Sept.1997. http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR3-3/tellis2.html

UNESCO (2001). Teacher Education Through Distance Learning. Technology-Curriculum-Cost-Evaluation. Summary of Case Studies. Paris: UNESCO. http://www.unesdoc.unesco.org/images/012/001242/124208e.pdf

Umar, AbdulRahman (2006). Quality Assurance Procedures in Teacher Education: The Case of National Teachers’ Institute, Kaduna, Nigeria. http://www…col.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/PS-QH\_chapter5.pdf

Valentine, Doug (2002). Distance Learning Administration, v(iii). 2002. http://www.westga.edu/ distance/ojdla/fall53/valentine53.html

Wikipedia (2012). Case Study. http://en\_wikipedia.org/wiki/casestudy
Wikipedia (2012). Systems Theory. http://en\_wikipedia.org/wiki/systemstheory
Wikipedia (2012). Problem. http://en\_wikipedia.org/wiki/problem
Williamson, Graham (2012). What does your effectiveness depend on?
http://www.grahamwilliamson.com/2011/12/factors-influencing-managerial-
effectiveness/
Yanacci, Jacqueline, Roberts, Kristen & Ganju, Vijay (2006). Principles From Adult Learning Theory, Evidence-Based Teaching & Visual Marketing: What are the implications for Toolkit development?
http://ebp.networkofcare.org/uploads/Adult\_Learning\_Theory\_2497281.pdf
Yusuf, M.D. (2006). Problems and Prospects of Open and Distance Education in Nigeria. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education-TOJDE 7(1). 2 Jan.2006. http://tojde.anadolu.edu.tr/tojde21/articles/yusuf.htm