CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
Globally, education has become an important commodity to one‟s personal achievement as wel as the development of a nation as a whole. It occupies a vital position in all circles of human endeavours. The unparalleled request for university degree over the previous decades has led to the introduction of Distance Education (DE) in some tertiary institutions in Ghana which Valley View University is no exception. The term Distance Education is a system of complete separation between students and lecturers in which learning materials are submitted through various means such as the print or electronic media to students who could not have the opportunity to attend the face-to-face formal education due to the poor financial status of parents/ family or tight schedule at the workplace. E-learning is not only useful for such group of individuals; it is also beneficial for the educational institutions that offer such services where adults are working. The benefits of e-learning include providing learning opportunities to all at a reduced cost and increased access to learning for disadvantaged groups due to geographical barriers (Jihad & Sondos, 2006).
Research study such as Engelbrecht (2003) has confirmed that students who have enrolled in the distance education through the adoption of e-learning will have equal opportunity to access the needed information from their lecturers since learning is determined by their own pace. Furthermore, e-learning has the potential to provide a high-quality education and training, producing a competitive workforce and increases the level of literacy among citizens (Engelbrecht, 2003).
Vasileios Kagklis et al., (2015) defined distance education as a form of education in which there is a constrained interaction between lecturers and students”. Safiul in Lenara et al., (2014) indicated that distance learning is the independent form of education by using pedagogical technologies to design and implement remote courses for students.
Caruth and Caruth (2013) defined distance education as an instruction in which students are separated from instructors during their entire course of study. Distance education is characterized by lecturers, students and some of the time other facilitators imparting information with students through distinctive sorts of media (Nagar, 2010). Mnyanyi and Mbwette (2009) reiterated that “distance education is a learning process in which the teacher and the learner are separated in terms of space and time; communication between the two is mediated by print media or ICT; learning is under the control of the learner rather than the teacher.
The core objective of Valley View University (VVU) is to offer quality education hence, the need to introduce online education in order to admit all qualified applicants. This chapter highlights the background of the study, statement of the problem, the purpose of the study, objectives of the study, theoretical framework, and scope of the study, significance, research environment, ethical considerations and descriptions of chapters.
Statement of the problem
The use of e-learning in higher institutions to improve the delivery of materials to learners, helps lecturers to keep their lesson notes up-to-date, get in touch with students in a short possible time and communicate with one another as wel . “E-learning technologies for teaching and learning help students to download learning materials submit assignments and collaborate with lecturers
and colleagues (Abu-Shanab, 2014; Abdellatief et al., 2011; Piña, 2010).
The researcher‟s interaction with a staff at the Distance Education Department disclosed that some students and lecturers lacked adequate skills to use the Online Learning Forum Platform (OLFP) to access information despite the initial training they had from the Distance Education Department of the university. Another interview with the students revealed that the department lacks permanent information technology (IT) staff to support students and lecturers. Thus, lecturers‟ are not able to develop online courses on time and late submission of assignments and learning materials to students among others were enumerated by the students as some of the hindrances militating against the use of e-learning at the Valley View University (VVU).