Date of Conferral

2016

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Education

Advisor

Wellesley R. Foshay

Abstract

According to the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (2012-2013), access to higher education is limited in most of the developing countries due to inadequate budgets and lack of schools and teaching staff. The use of educational technology could help bridge the gap, but research has only explored the use of available technologies to enhance learning where higher education is already accessible. The purpose of this case study was to investigate the use of one-to-many videoconferencing as an education access tool for high school seniors seeking higher education in the most devastated areas of Haiti. The theoretical framework for this study is based on Bandura's social learning theory, activity theory, and constructivist epistemology. This study attempts to explore the feasibility of using one-to-many videoconferencing learning to enhance access to education in Haiti. The study also analyzes the experiences of various sets of participants. The data were drawn from 13 interviews involving the school principal, the school's technology expert, 10 students, and one instructor corroborated by hours spent observing the same participants engaged in classroom activities via videoconferencing. The participants were interviewed on their experiences with the new delivery method proposed and utilized in the study. The data from this study suggest that by preserving the features of the familiar classroom model, videoconferencing could be successfully utilized to compensate for the lack of other facilities for higher education. The data was coded and analyzed using the NVivo data analysis software. The study will allow Haitian professionals living outside of the country to affect change in access to higher learning in Haiti.

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