**2. Describing open and distance learning**

Tuition in open and distance learning contexts is conducted differently from face-to-face higher education settings. The economic challenges facing countries are impacting HE participation negatively and demand interventions which will enhance participation and success in HE sector. Manzoor [6] argues that the introduction of open and distance learning universities was regarded as a groundbreaking option in expanding access to higher education. Open and distance education is critical in ensuring that socioeconomic challenges facing the majority of countries of the world are alleviated.

The advent of ODL settings marked an error that is distinct from the traditional Higher Education provision. Open and distance learning is usually contrasted with conventional or face-to-face education, which may be described as the form of education which takes place in a classroom or an auditorium [7, 8]. In ODL settings, students receive tuition away from the physical structure of the institution [9], and this is a distinguishing feature between full-time learning and distance learning. Agiomirgianakis et al. [10] define distance education as any educational process in which all or most of the teaching is conducted by someone geographically removed from the learner, with all or most of the communication between teachers and learners being conducted through electronic or print mediums. Allen and Seaman [11] define distance education as "that which uses one or more technologies to deliver instruction to students who are separated from the instructor and to support regular and substantive interaction between the students and the instructor synchronously or asynchronously". Teaching in ODL "encompasses a broad range of teaching, coaching, mentoring and monitoring activities that guide students through their courses, mediating the packaged learning materials and facilitating the learning process [12]". ODL settings by their nature provide learning opportunities to students who are mature and working and who are unable to acquire access education in full-time, contact, and campus-based institutions [13].

According to Chawinga and Zozie [14], ODL is the type of teaching and learning which does not include face-to-face interaction between the student and the lecturer, and Chawinga and Zozie [14] further argue that the main objective of introducing ODL is to provide education to those students who are geographically distanced from the lecturers. Anderson and Dron [15] contend that since ODL started operating decades ago, distance education experienced different changes, and to these scholars, distance education can be classified into three distinct generations. According to Biggs [16], "the first generation of distance education technology was by postal correspondence, this was followed by a second generation, defined by the mass media of television, radio, and film production. Third-generation distance education introduced interactive technologies, first audio, then text, video, and then web and immersive conferencing."

Flowing from the assertions above, largely, teaching in an ODL context should not be traditionally pedagogical but also technological driven due to the nature of these institutions. This will help in improving students' graduation rate. In view of the above and given the nature of the distance instruction, Biggs [16] advocate for a distance education that is technologically mediated in order for it to reach students who are detached from the real classroom and also breach a gap between them and their teachers.
