Issues relating to identifying pathways whereby pharmacy practioners can obtain additional training and experience leading to an advanced professional degree or certificate are identified. A scheme for assessing the prior learning of external degree or certificate candidates is suggested. (MLW)

In most debates about teaching, learning, and research, the spatial context of education is either taken for granted or ignored. But places can be viewed as more than empty frames for social action; they can be seen as both historically constituted by social processes and, in turn, constituting those social processes. This paper aims to restore a…

The Open University set out ten years ago to solve the problem of dropouts in external degree programs. The importance of its success for itself and other institutions is discussed, although there is caution due to the lack of unanimity in terminology in dropout research, and the danger of using dropouts to compare institutions. (MSE)

Learn and Shop, a concept of offering university credit courses by university faculty in shopping centers which was developed by Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis, is described. The Learn and Shop curriculum permits individuals to earn a two-year associate degree in liberal arts entirely at shopping centers. (MLW)

The nursing programs offered as part of the New York State Regents External Degree programs are highlighted including a brief historical review and description of the nursing program. (JMF)

Discussion of the development of distance education programs in the United States, Australia, Canada, and Great Britain focuses primarily on six programs in the United States. External degree programs are discussed, standard examinations that assess prior learning are described, and credit policies for extra-institutional learning are examined.…

Bachelor Degrees for Soldiers (BDFS) is a system of voluntary, off-duty bachelor degree programs for Army noncommissioned officers and warrant officers. Bachelor degree programs within the BDFS system are designed to relate directly to the military occupational specialty of soldiers. In operation since October 1986, the program grew out of the…

This project explores a number of external degree models that could be offered to non-credentialed persons who are providing (or who want to provide) human services to older persons in New York State. Although the project was carried out in New York, the models could be applied in other settings as well. The initial motivation for the project had…

Care must be taken to select technology appropriate to the teaching task in distance education. Five principles of media selection are: increasing student-system interaction, matching the medium with the materials, reducing duplication, choosing the most direct channel, and developing user-friendly systems. Interactiveness and efficiency of…

Discusses changes in the open university which involved a wider range of courses that had nothing to do with the degree program, including in-service courses for teachers, courses for people working in the caring professions, and short courses for the community as a whole. (JEG)

An experimental external degree program in a French university with 9,000 students has been designed to officially ignore nonattendance at lectures. The success of this policy and faculty attitudes toward and adjustments to it are explored. (MSE)

Creation of a new Open University (Great Britain) introductory course in technology provided an opportunity to consider study skills as an integral part of the course, linked closely to subject content. Use of study notes and tutor involvement are investigated. (MSE)

A general overview of the University of the Third Age at Toulouse, France designed for retired persons, is provided including a summary of the university's aims to improve the lives and living standards of the elderly. Possibilities for such a program using distance teaching are reported. (JMF)

Briefly outlines the early history of distance education programs in the 1960s, emphasizing the success of the Open University in the United Kingdom. Discusses 10 individual models of virtual universities that are international in scope. (JKP)

Place is material, conceptual and symbolic. Physically, the Library at Townsville College of Advanced Education was central, visible and distinctive. Internally, it provided a dramatically different environment from other college buildings. It functioned as the (metaphorical) "hub" of the external studies programme and, when the college…