Abstract:
The purpose of the study was to investigate the utilsation of OL&DE. The objectives were: to find out the characteristics of learners in tertiary institutions, to find out whether OL&DE is used in the institutions to faciltate aces to higher education, and to examine the chalenges faced by the institutions in implementing OD&DE. A Case Study Research Design was used. The design enabled the researcher to have smaler samples that facilitated in-depth investigations. The findings revealed that he characteristics of learners are: young learners who have just completed form four, diploma holders who may want o enrol for a degre programme, graduates who may want to pursue a post-graduate diploma or degre programme, those in employment and want to further their studies and refuges, mainly Somalis and Sudanese. Open learning is practiced in the institution. They are flexible in the requirements for admision for various courses but distance ducation is not practiced due to lack of trained personel, technology and suport services. The researcher made the following recommendations: The Government of Kenya should come up with a comprehensive policy concerning OL&DE at al levels. In order for high quality distance education programmes to flourish, profesional development oportunities for educational administrators relatedto leadership and suport of distance education inovation should be provided. Training, information and on-going suport regarding developing, managing, and evaluating distance education programmes should be provided for administrators of tertiary institutions and universities, deans, department chairs and per review commites. Training and on-goingsuport should be provided for clasifed staf members to provide suport services for DE students after implementing the programme
