Another had this to say: “Learner support is an assistance that a student gets from outside the institution such as from parents, government, spouse, friends and others that facilitate his or her learning” (student centre B, 15 February 2014). Still another student had this to say: “Learner support refers to all things that student need to get in order to learn successfully and pass his or her examination”(Student centre B, 16 February 2014). Another student had this to say; “Learner support refers to all learning materials required by the learner to enable himor her learn all courses and perform successfully” (Student centre B 15 February 2014). Another student also added this by saying that: “Learner support refers to all financial assistance needed by the learner to enable him or her meet all the cost required by the University” (Student centre A,10 February 2014). Also another student had this to say: “To the best of my knowledge learner support concerns with all the assistance the student need from his or her employer that facilitate learning performance, like permission to attend face-to-face sessions and study time” (Student centre B 15
Similarly, the lecturers had that were like their students that OUT does not provide financial support to students. They both stressed that the burden of the costs is casted upon learners. Likewise, they all declared that financial costs play a significant role in making learners become self-directed in learning. Their views are similar to those found in literature. However, none of them analyzed that the services offered by OUT such as internet, library services, efficiency in information and communication technology are among services that are intended to reduce financial costs to the students. 4.2.1.2 Learning Materials The data computed below were obtained by means of interview, observation and documentary review. However, it was also found that learning materials provided by OUT were inadequate to support all the learners. One of the student said that, “In actual fact, I do not see what the Open University is doing concerning provision of learning materials. The study materials are not enough. I take the trouble to use my money to produce copies from a few available materials” (Student, center A, 12 February 2014). Another student had this to say: “The study materials especially books are not enough. The Open University advices us to find books from our friends who take similar courses. Out of 20 courses that I have registered for, I have only 1 reference book for one course. The rest, which are unavailable I am supposed to find myself” (Student, centre B,14 February 2014).
Yet another student had this to say: “You mean support from OUT. No support from OUT. All learning support is from myself. I find study materials by myself using my own money. All the learning depends on myself (Student, centre A, 10, February 2014). another student had this to say “Nothing the OUT helps me other than continuing frustrating me with this endless course. I have been studying for 9 years, now the course is infinite. I have been discouraged with negative answers when I visit OUT centre to ask for learning materials and lost marks for some courses (Student centre A, 09 February 2014). Table 4.: Course Materials and Books not Provided to Third Year Undergraduate BA, Ed Students in 2014. Code/unit Quantity January February Demand Received Demand Received 1 OEM 302. Organization Bachelor and Human Resource 2 X 2 X 2 OSLI. 323 Ubunifu 2 X 3 X 3 OSW.321 isim jamii - X 3 X 4 OEP. 101 Education and psychology 2 2 2 2 5 OSW.121utangulizi wa ugha 2 2 2 2 6 OSW. 221 sarufi ya Kiswahili na sintakisia 2 2 2 7 OSW. 222 Fonefiki na fonolojia. 2 2 2 22 Source: Field Data (2014)
materials, I could not do anything concerning learning” (Student ,centre B February 2014). Yet, another student had remarks as follows: “The Open University provides inadequate learning materials so as to make learners active locaters of it. What they are doing is good because if you provide all things to all learners, at the same time you will make learners dormant. This system should continually be in practice because even in conventional universities, learners are not given learning materials”(Student centre B, February 2014). From the responses, students not only are dependent on the institution to provide the reading materials, but also they are quite satisfied with what they access. The same view was held by lecturers who also thought that provision of learning materials would satisfy students’ learning needs. One academic staff said that- “We do provide learning materials and reference books. Sometimes they are not enough to some courses. We advice the learners to photocopy the learning materials so that they get their own copies.” (Academic staff, centre A, 16 February 2014) Another lecturer had this to say: “The students‘ support provided in this institution (OUT) among others includes soft and hard copy materials. Hard materials are books, modules, journals and the