Evaluation of the Effectiveness of School of Education In Disseminating Academic Advising Information to BAED Students on the Right Course Combination: a case Study of the University of Zambia
The aim of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of School of Education in disseminating Academic advising information to Bachelor of Arts with Education (BAED) students on right course combination. The objectives of this research were: to identify information needs of BAED students; to identify the existing information support in the school and examine its contributions to BAED students; to assess the availability, accessibility and frequency of information delivery to BAED students; to asses the attitudes of departmental Lecturers in providing information on course combinations to BAED students; and to find out student's perceptions about the school of education in terms of meeting their information needs on course combinations.Structured self-administered questionnaires were used to collect both primary and secondary data. Data analysis was done by the use of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The key findings of the research were that more male students are pursuing BAED programme with the majority of students majoring in History .The research revealed that most students face information problems on lack of academic advising information on course combination, lack of information on the number of courses to complete in a subject, lack of information on where to get advise on academic matters, and lack of guidance information on what subject to major in. It was also discovered that there is no existing information support in the school and the frequency at which academic advising information is provided is only once per semester. The majority of students observed that information is not readily available and it is difficult to access any existing information. Departmental Lecturers were found to be unhelpful in providing advising information and that the majority of students are not happy with the academic advising information provided by the school hence rating it bad in meeting their information needs.One of the major recommendations is that the School should document academic advising information on course combinations, course offerings, pre-requisites, major requirements, and drop and add procedures and provide documented information to all admitted students in their first year and also to ensure that students are guided on their academic journey from the time they are admitted up to the time they graduate by giving them academic tutors to help them on course combinations. A conclusion has therefore been drawn that it is only through the effective dissemination of accurate and current academic advising information that students will be encouraged to develop in their careers.
Universities and Colleges--Curricular--Zambia, Information Services--Curricular--zambia
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