Assessing the technological and pedagogical supports of distance education institutions in Mauritius

As human manpower is an important asset for Mauritius, strategies are deployed and incentives are given to encourage lifelong learning. Thus, tertiary institutions in Mauritius are increasingly developing courses with the aim of reaching a larger student population through a flexible mode of learning. However, it is well known that distant learners´ motivation fades away and that the rates of dropouts have not considerably decreased across the years. To give adequate supports to the distant learners, tertiary institutions are keeping up with the emerging technologies, from radio, television, audio/video conferencing to the World Wide Web. The aim of this paper is to assess the institutions´ contributions to distance learning with regards to both technological and pedagogical supports. The methodology opted is of qualitative nature and it includes investigation through desktop research, informal interviews and testimonials of students. Six distance education institutions in Mauritius were chosen for this research. Interestingly, results show the institutions use emerging information and communication technologies (ICTs) for their teaching and learning process. However these technologies are primarily used as a communication tool rather than a pedagogical supporting tool. These supports are thus more oriented towards giving administrative help to the students. This research brings a valuable contribution to a doctoral research with the aim of designing an online learning model to assist students in their learning process.