This report provides an overview of the nature of open universities derived from the responses from 28 open universities in the Commonwealth. The data not only provide a snapshot of the nature of OUs, but also show some evidence of the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on open universities where institutions had to move all their learning and…

The areas of research and methodological dimensions in the distance education are expanding rapidly due to technological advances (Wong et al., 2016). This research intends to investigate the imbalances in domains of research topics and methodological dimensions in the doctoral level dissertations at Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) between…

The primary achievement of distance and regular students is managing time effectively. Mismanagement disturbs the academic achievements of learners. Time administration plays a significant role in improving learners' performance and accomplishments. It is a skill to manage time and every learner must familiar and command on this skill for the sake…

Pre-service teacher education comprises essential courses to prepare prospective teachers for effective classroom assessment practices. The study analyzes study material on students' assessment and assessment literacy of prospective teachers is investigated which require close attention of policy makers and practitioners for authentic assessment…

This research study was designed to explore the teaching-learning approaches to distance education and measuring students' learning perceptions. Using the multi-stage sampling technique, eight hundred and two (802) students of the Master of Arts in a distance education university were taken using the universal sampling. Data were collected through…

The current study explored the possible effect of workplace diversity on employees' performance in Allama Iqbal Open University. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of workplace diversity on the performance of employees. The sample of study comprised of 105 Head of departments and 545 regular (BPS-2 to15), contractual, daily wagers…

Higher Education Commission, Pakistan established fourteen Distance Learning Directorates in formal universities to cater the need of education for external students through open distance learning. Open Distance Learning needs a compact instructional design mechanism which deals with Analysis, Design, Delivery, Improvement and Evaluation being…

The present study investigated the need of digital technologies for the distance learners of AIOU (Allama Iqbal Open University), and the challenges in its implementation. Within mixed-method approach, an explanatory sequential design was employed to conduct this study. Quantitative data was collected through questionnaires from 963 students to…

The purpose of this study was to explore how AIOU is adapting technological innovations in their distance education programs and to what extent instructional design has been aligned with the technologybased online learning. A qualitative research design was adopted to collect data from key IT experts working behind the provision of online learning…

Most of learning of distance learners took place because of assignments that learners prepare following the given schedule. On the other hand, assignments are also a component of formative assessment process in assessment of distance learners. Present study was an attempt to discuss and evaluate the role and skill of personnel and institutions…

Communication transmits information, ideas and feelings from one person to another. But there are certain barriers which restrict the people's expression. These are social barriers, cultural barriers, temporal barriers, technical barriers, psychological barriers, contextual barriers and collaboration barriers. Therefore, present study was designed…

Over a number of years, the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) has encouraged and supported moves to Learning Management System (LMS) replacing aspects of paper-based and face-to-face teaching and learning including, assignments, workshops and examination. The views of learners and academics were explored to consider the advantages of the system…

This research study was conducted to discover use of ICT in Distance Education by exploring interest and preference of ICT between students of rural and urban background at Allama Iqbal Open University Islamabad Pakistan. The study was aimed to establish the differences between urban and rural students' interest and preference of ICT in general…

The purpose of the study was to find the relationship between academic self-concept and academic achievement of distance learners. The academic self-concept of distance learners was measured by the Liu and Wang (2005) academic self-concept scale which was adapted by the present researcher. The scale comprised of two sub-scales; academic effort and…

The purpose of this research was to find out the effect of communicative approach on proposal/synopsis writing skills of students at Allama Iqbal Open University Islamabad as it was found from the literature that Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) had a noteworthy influence to improve proposal writing skills. The researcher used the…