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Using The Perceptions Of Online University Students To Improve The Pedagogy And Practice Of Distance Educators: Them Helping Us To Improve It, David Bolton, Maria T. Northcote, Peter W. Kilgour, Jason Hinze

Maria Northcote

This paper reports on the findings of an investigation into the experiences of undergraduate and postgraduate distance education students from one higher education institution, Avondale College of Higher Education. All of the institution's current students who were enrolled in a distance course or who had previously completed a distance component of their course were surveyed using an online questionnaire. A subgroup of this population also contributed to focus group discussions. Findings from an analysis of the combined data gathered from the online questionnaire and the focus groups were used to inform the institution's professional development (PD) program that supports lecturers …