Towards Meaningful e-Learning of ICT Courses in Online and Open Distance Education.

This abstract contains a brief introduction to research on the topic of providing a mainly qualitative perspective on teachers' use of e-learning technologies towards effective teaching for meaningful e-learning to address the challenges of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) courses in an online and open distance education environment. A more detailed research question towards this purpose is provided in the paper. The paper proceeds to a review of the literature on research into how teachers use e-learning technologies towards effective teaching for meaningful e-learning, in order to thus increase throughput rates, in some cases in online and/or open distance education environments. As examples of what will be discussed in this section, online learning objects have been investigated from the perspective of constructivist theory through to application, and why online learners drop out interrogated, while some researchers worked towards a framework to support transformation through quality assurance at the University of South Africa. As an example of a research design that had been implemented in a previous investigation, a phenomenological study was used as part of a qualitative, interactive design in order to investigate e-learner interaction experiences in an online and open distance education context. In terms of the methodology used to collect the data, aspects relating to the data collection instrument, sample and sampling technique, validity and reliability of the instrument and data analysis were discussed in an earlier paper. Although some perspectives on a summary of quantitative results are provided, this paper mainly discusses results aimed at providing a qualitative perspective on teachers' use of e-learning technologies towards effective teaching for meaningful e-learning to address the challenges of ICT modules in an online and open distance education context. Conclusions are presented, including a summary of the most important results, and their value. The authors show how the results of this research could make a significant and original contribution regarding emerging trends in, and the promotion and development of knowledge in fields related to, teachers' use of e-learning technologies towards effective teaching for meaningful e-learning in an online and open distance education environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]