Challenges of Learning Mathematics by Distance a Case Study of Public and Private Universities in Zambia

Zambia has experienced an influx of institutions and Universities opening in every district. The tertiary education expanded from three public Universities and one private to over eight public Universities and over 100 private tertiary education in the last decade. The demand for tertiary educationin the last decade has grown so much that institutions are being opened in almost every district and all of them offer distance learning. The article explores students' perceptions of open and distance education in Zambian Universities. A total of 120 students (90 male and 30 female) represent the study sample. The results obtained indicated that respondents rated the quality of materials, feedback from instructors, periods for residential where all rated fair to poor with 48.3% to 51.7%, 41.7% to 58.3%, and 43.3% to 56.7% respectively. The p-values of the quality of the material were 0.897, feedback was 0.245, a period of residential school was 0.366, and all p- values indicated that the null hypotheses of no difference are retained. The categories of test results given between universities occurred with equal probabilities using one sample Chi-square test gave a p-value of 0.997, means to retain the null hypothesis of no difference in performance between Universities. The test results between full-time students and distance results gave a p-value of 0.000, means there is a significant difference in performance between full time and distance students.