time constraints and it has been reported as improving the quality of learning, increasing engagement
and enhancing students' motivation (Arasaratnam & Northcote, 2017).
E Despite the fact that integrating distance and e-learning clearly has advantages in the education
system, some HEls have been experiencing challenges in its implementation (Darling-Hammond,
Flook, Cook-Harvey, Barron & Osher, 2019). HEls worldwide are facing a variety of challenges related
to the successful implementation, maintenance and growth of online programmes (Mahlangu, 2018).
Challenges in the online education arena are being experienced worldwide from Africa to the
Americas, Europe and Asia (Palvia, Aeron, Gupta, Mahapatra, Parida, Rosner & Sindhi, 2018). In the
United States of America (USA), challenges that may result in the failure of distance and online
education are institutional factors such as a lack of understanding of on line pedagogy, on line learning
styles, lack of administrative support for online education, and the number of students enrolled,
faculty qualifications, tuition rates and the length of the programme (Kentnor, 2015).
F Challenges affecting online learning in the Middle East include low internet penetration, low public
esteem for on line learning, and a lack of online educational repositories in the Arabic language (Palvia
et al., 2018). To deal with these challenges and promote e-learning in Saudi Arabia, collaborations with
institutions of higher learning, improving quality standards, and developing rules and regulations for
governing e-learning were initiated (Palvia et al., 2018). In Africa, ICT capacity overall has not evolved
significantly, although online learning seems to be heading toward a critical mass and may have a
major impact (Palvia et al., 2018). In South Africa there were gaps in policy understanding by
intermediaries like district and provincial officials, resulting in several problems relating to the actual
implementation of a national online learning policy (Vandeyar, 2015). Distance and online learning
raises significant challenges in the technological research arena. Although distance and on line learning
training has been ongoing at a HEl's satellite campus for 28 years now, no data exist regarding
students' experiences with ODL programme. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore and
describe students' challenges associated with the online and distance learning mode at a selected
satellite campus of HEI in Namibia.
G Teaching course materials and classrooms have become sophisticated and complex in the ways in
which they have been converted into new forms. Allen, Seaman, Poulin, and Straut (2015) reported
that more than two-thirds of academic leaders believe that on line learning was a "critical" component
to the long-term practicability of institutions. As this has become a demand at many institutions, there
has been steady growth in online learning programmes across HEls. The specific HEI satellite campus
offers a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes; however, despite its efforts to
cater for students who are unable to attend the full-time programme by introducing a distance and
on line learning programme in its curriculum, a high percentage of the students who register through
this learning mode discontinue their studies and others have taken several extra years to complete
(Du Plessis, Alexander, Ashipala & Kamenye, 2016). Empirical evidence revealing the students'
challenges experienced at the selected satellite campus has yet to be undertaken.
Accordingly, the following research questions were posed:
1. What challenges are experienced by students in pursuing their studies through ODL at satellite
campus of HEI in Namibia?
2. What are the factors contributing to the challenges affecting students studying through ODL at
a satellite campus of HEI in Namibia?
3