Impact of student support services on academic performance of Bachelor of Education students in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) mode: The case of Botswana Open University

Abstract

This study explores the impact of the Student Support Services (tutorial support and discussion forums), on the academic performance of Bachelor of Education (B,Ed) Programmes students, with specific focus on the 2019 Cohort. A quantitative descriptive and cross-sectional survey design was used to examine the impact of student support services, in the form of tutorial attendance and discussion forums, on the academic performance of Bachelor of Education students. A simple random sample of 101 students, representing 78.3% of the total population was used. The research instruments contain questionnaire on perceptions about student support services used to collect data. In addition, the data mining of existing systems and documents is used to collect information on student attendance, discussion forum participation and academic performance. The results of Z test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) indicates that gender and age in one programme Integrated Early Childhood Development programme shows statistical significance. The Pearson correlation results show no significance in discussion forum participation and academic performance. The results of Pearson correlations also showed that there is significant correlation between tutorial attendance and academic performance. The results of Pearson correlation show no correlation between academic performance and perceptions on students support services. Institutions need to make consideration of factors that reflect the significant relationship with academic performance when planning support services to meet the needs of their students and to enhance students‟ academic performance and subsequent transition through the system.