STUDENT INVOLVEMENT IN ENHANCING STUDENT, RETENTION,
PERSISTENCE AND SUCCESS IN OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING
AT ZIMBABWE OPEN UNIVERSITY

STUDENT INVOLVEMENT IN ENHANCING STUDENT, RETENTION,
PERSISTENCE AND SUCCESS IN OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING
AT ZIMBABWE OPEN UNIVERSITY

STEPHEN MWENJE

RITTAH KASOWE

The study sought to establish how student involvement could enhance student retention, persistence and
success in Open and Distance Learning at Zimbabwe Open University for it to become a world class
university. Open and Distance Learning (ODL) systems in Sub-Saharan Africa institutions are grappling with
fiscal challenges of low state funding and low student numbers against a background of increasing
proliferation. African ODL systems are pursuing world class visions to effectively determine and monitor
variables that affect student retention, persistence and success. With Open and Distance Learning, students
are now being considered as the largest stakeholders. Investing time and money in learning, Open and
Distance Learning institutions ought to orient partnerships to retain their students throughout the course of
their learning. This research sought to find out how student persistence and success in Open and Distance
Learning could be enhanced through customer feedback approaches at the Zimbabwe Open University. The
case study survey design was used to gather data from randomly selected forty final year students and ten
alumni members. The interview and the questionnaire were used as data collection instruments. The study
established that assignments contribute much to students’ persistence and success to learning, hence the
commenting need to be thorough. Tutorial sessions were found to be theoretically based and lacking
practical activities, and some concepts in modules were viewed difficult to be conceptualized by students.
Academic advisory services being given to students were enhancing learning; however, they lacked the
social aspects.

African Educational Research Journal

2013