The impact of discussion classes on ODL learners in basic statistics

Abstract

Open distance learning institutions, like the University of South Africa, are tasked with producing policies and procedures that will accommodate the ever-growing student numbers; at the same time they face pressure for better service delivery. Aspects of learner support such as academic counselling, tutoring, the use of the myUnisa (University of South Africa student’s website) discussion forum, myStatLab (online test bank for Statistics) lectures and discussion classes have been singled out for attention in this regard. In this study we investigate the impact of one of these aspects, namely, discussion classes, on the academic achievements of Statistics 1 (STA191Q) students at the University of South Africa in terms of knowledge, understanding and application of teaching skills. Quantitative approaches, such as one sample t-tests, analysis of variance and log-linear analysis were used to assess the impact of discussion classes on learner performance. The results show that there is a significant difference in performance between students who did not attend, those who attended one session and those who attended both discussion class sessions.