Teacher development through open and distance learning: the case for zimbabwe

Özet

\r\n The last article is from ZIMBABWE . It is entitled as "TEACHER DEVELOPMENT THROUGH OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING: THE CASE FOR ZIMBABWE" and written by Caleb KANGAI and Richard BUKALIYA from Zimbabwe Open University, Marondera. This article that is a case study of distance teacher education at the Zimbabwe Open University, is part of an ongoing longitudinal study the two researchers are undertaking at the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) concerning issues of quality and effectiveness in open and distance learning (ODL). The article argues that distance teacher education has the potential to solve the current and future problems of teacher shortage in Zimbabwe and elsewhere. Data for the present study were collected over a period of two years through personal experience, participatory methods, observations, document analysis, informal discussions and illuminative methods. On the basis of the present findings, effective distance education programmes would require the adoption of the following key strategies: · Winning government support for distance teacher education, · Setting up a directorate for the coordination of distance teacher education, · Adoption of the partnership model in the training of teachers.\r\n