PEDAGOGY IN DISTANCE EDUCATION: IS EVALUATIVE JUDGEMENT AN EFFECTIVE PEDAGOGICAL TOOL FOR STUDENTS IN DISTANCE EDUCATION?

PEDAGOGY IN DISTANCE EDUCATION: IS EVALUATIVE JUDGEMENT AN EFFECTIVE PEDAGOGICAL TOOL FOR STUDENTS IN DISTANCE EDUCATION?

PAUL MUPA

Distance education has expanded dramatically over the years and has become a needed component in the higher
education landscape especially in this COVID-19 era. Students in distance education need the ability to make
decisions about the quality of work and others. The argument advanced in this article is that evaluative judgement
should be used as a pedagogical tool by students in distance education so that they develop the capacity to improve
their reflective practices. Qualitative methodology was employed in this study. Learning facilitators from the
Zimbabwe Open University were purposefully sampled to generate data through semi-structured interviews. The
major findings of the study were that evaluative judgement is a very effective tool which enables students to see
whether what they are doing is right or wrong. It is used in assignment writing, term paper presentations, research
project writing, group discussions, peer assessment, teaching practice attachment and during examination writing. It
improves the depth and breadth of understanding matter and also improves the quality of interaction between the
student and the content. The study recommends that tutorial handbooks should be provided at orientation on the
importance of evaluative judgement to students in order to improve the quality of their work.

Zambia Journal of Distance Education

2021