Assessing distance learners' needs : a study of distance education students at the Universidad Tecnica Particular de Loja, Ecuador

This thesis seeks to contribute to the research on the needs of distance education students by analyzing survey responses given in their own words by the students of Ecuador's Universidad Tecnica Particular de Loja (UTPL), the country's oldest distance education program. Little published research exists on students' needs in Latin American distance education programs, and even fewer studies exist that analyze the actual language used by students to describe their needs. Mirroring the literature, UTPL students said in their own words that they desire more interaction between themselves and their instructors, their tutors, the university administration and other students. Distance education research points to schedule flexibility and convenience as the primary reasons students enroll in distance education programs. Without any prompting or knowledge of that literature, UTPL students said it is for those same reasons they decided on the distance education method. Based on this study it can be said UTPL's students echo the same concerns as other distance education students around the world. However, UTPL will have to be creative in meeting those communication and interaction needs because of conditions beyond its control, namely, an underdeveloped telecommunications infrastructure that prohibited efficient telephone and computer connections as of 1996. Additionally, this thesis also summarized the results of a national inventory of distance education planners in Ecuador and compares their perspective to that of distance education students.