Learning at a Distance is Just Not for a Plea for Knowledge ... but Continuous Support

This study reports in some detail the experience of a small group of distance learners as they progress through their courses at Universiti Utara Malaysia. An initial literature review suggested that while a number of studies had been completed in the past two decades that report student characteristics, motivations, and prior experience of study, most of these studies had been carried out from the point of view and perspective of the providing institutions, not from the perspective of students. This paper looks at distance learning as described by the learners it is their story, their experience, their perspective. In particular, this paper looks at learning support in distance learning, an issue that arose from discussions with the students, rather than being preordained by the research design. It became evident that the learning support was perceived by the learners as not sufficient to assist distance learning. From these findings conclusions have been drawn regarding the role of learning support to facilitate distance learning. The concept of need and support are important component as it relates to the different requirements from support into action which enable the learners to connect with their distance teachers, the learning content and other learners.