The University of the West Indies Open Campus and Athabasca University conducted a pilot workshop to see if open educational resources (OER) could be used to construct curricula. UWIOC was interested in increasing distance education offerings and Athabasca University was interested in expanding programming to offer an online graduate program in…

Developing a model for effective large-scale continuous professional development (CPD) for teachers remains a significant obstacle for many governments worldwide. This article describes the development and evolution of Vital--a CPD program designed to enhance the teaching of information communication technology in state-funded primary and…

It is proposed to establish an Integrated Distance Education System in India by designing modern technology based information communication network, connecting all its ODL (Open and Distance Learning) institutions to the headquarters of the ODL system in India. The principle roles to be performed by such a system have been discussed; according to…

When asked what they would find most helpful to enable them to use technologies more in their teaching, most teachers say "give me examples, in my subject area" and "point me to relevant people I can discuss these issues with". Web 2.0 technologies--with their emphasis on sharing, networking and user production--seem to offer a…

In Japan, environmental education partnerships among citizens, businesses and local government increased since new legislation was introduced in 2003, but there was little evidence of cross-sector collaboration until recently. Nagoya Open University of the Environment is a highly innovative, multi-sectoral citizen learning system founded in 2005…

Can we apply the best of Web 2.0 principles to an educational context? More specifically can we use this as a means of shifting teaching practice to a culture of sharing learning ideas and designs? This paper describes a new social networking site, "Cloudworks", which aims to provide a mechanism for sharing, discussing and finding…

The Open University of Indonesia (Universitas Terbuka, UT) has over 450,000 students distributed across a vast, diverse archipelago. UT will play a central role in meeting the requirement that over 1 million primary teachers earn four-year postsecondary degrees by 2015. While the Open University has considerable capacity in print-based and…

Summarized the reports of the committees that have been involved in planning all types of adult education programs in Finland. (JOW)

The activities of the Open Learning Institute (OLI) of British Columbia from its inception in the late 1970s through mid-1983 are described. It is noted that the mandate of the OLI was to make available throughout the Canadian province courses and programs to students who were unable or unwilling to take advantage of other educational…

A free university is defined as a community learning center that connects people who want to teach or learn with resources to meet their needs. The free university for Man, located at Kansas State University in Manhattan, is described. (MLW)

A differential fee policy was adopted at the Open Learning Institute (OLI) of Hong Kong after a process of conceptualization, planning, proposal, approval and implementation. Under the differential fee policy different tuition rates were charged for different courses. The differential fee policy was conceptualized at OLI based on economics,…

The author describes the Research and Training Center at Lahti (Finland): its general task, its goals, and its organization. The center's main projects are examined: open university studies, supplementary professional education, employment oriented training, extension projects, international cooperation, and research activities. Financing of the…

This 10-section report on the activities of the Open University of the United Kingdom as an innovative institution with a concern for democratization of higher education begins with a discussion of the criteria for an innovative organization. The origins of the University and the intentions of its early planners are then discussed, followed by a…

The Dutch Open University accepted its first students in September 1984 after a two-year preparation period. Like its British counterpart, the Dutch Open University offers free access and has no requirements as far as previous education is concerned. Its principal aims are to (1) provide higher education for adults either as a second chance (for…

A discussion of the need for feedback on course quality focuses on feedback needs once the courses have been used once or more and no longer need initial evaluation. This is termed the maintenance phase of course production. Three central questions are addressed. The first asks why feedback is needed at all, and it is proposed that it is to…