Experiences of Distance Education Students with Their Study Modules: The Case of University of Education, Winneba (UEW), Ghana

Design of distance education course materials is the single most important aspect of any distance education program. In recent times, many have questioned the experiences of the learners in the use of their course modules. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to find out the experiences of the distance education students in their use of the course modules (learner-content interaction), to see how it has been engaging, effective and efficient in their distance learning journey. Five graduates of the UEW distance education programme were chosen at random for this study and the in-depth interview guide was used to gather data. The four major themes that emerged from the phenomenological reduction process of the learners' experiences with the distance education course modules were the user experience; module content; interactivity of the modules; and assessments. The findings of the study were that respondents had positive experiences in user experiences, module content, and interactivity of the modules. They however had not so good experiences with the assessment practices of their program. The findings only confirm the importance of learner-content interactions in distance education, it also adds to the limited literature on learner-content interaction in distance education in the developing countries like Ghana.