We describe findings from a study based upon a collaborative project carried out online as the end of module assessment activity of a multidisciplinary science module at the UK Open University. Our aim was to determine how well students dealt with working in a team of unfamiliar multidisciplinary scientists and to identify tools and processes that…

A range of studies into the efficacy of online discussion forums is available, and this study seeks to add to the body of evidence around students' experiences of using online discussion forums within a distance learning context. The Open University (OU) is still the UK's largest provider of distance higher education. OU distance learners are…

Sonification is the use of non-speech audio to convey information. In this article, sonifications are representations of plots aimed at improving the accessibility of teaching materials. The electronic nature of sonifications means that they can be deployed to students via teaching interfaces such as virtual learning environments. We describe a…

Ensuring the fairness of assessment is important in all areas of higher education. It is particularly so in distance education, where the communication around assessment and feedback is a principal method of supporting learning, and even more so when the students are at the entry point into higher education. This research explores the nature of…

Resilience is understood to be the ability to adapt positively in the face of adversity. In relation to new students on a distance learning module, this can mean how they adapt and make sense of the demands of their chosen study to enable them to persist in their studies. This article reports a small-scale study involving semi-structured telephone…

Social media platforms such as Facebook are commonplace throughout society. However, within higher education institutions such networking environments are still in the developmental stage. This paper describes and discusses case study data from the Open University's Faculty of Social Science Facebook page. It starts by giving an overview of the…

This case study considers students who achieved "borderline" (40-45%) grades in their first assignment on a module, but went on to markedly improve their grades over the course of the module. The students were studying nursing and social work at the UK Open University, and they were all sponsored by employers. Semi-structured telephone…

For students new to higher education, the task of developing their academic writing skills, and particularly the principles and practices of source-referencing, can be daunting. Although institutions and teachers can and do provide positive guidance on this score, all too often students veer into inadvertent plagiarism through lack of confidence…

Graduation rates in distance higher education are low compared with full-time higher education--often less than 20% compared with full-time UK rates of around 80%--the "distance education deficit". In the University of London International Programmes, the difference between the face-to-face graduation rate of 61.5% and the distance…

This study was carried out to explore learner perceptions on the instructional design features of interactive multimedia (IMM), which was especially designed to support the open and distance learners studying microbiology as a part of the BSc degree programme of the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL). The purpose of developing this IMM was to…

In England there is a national survey of all students just before they graduate from bachelor's programmes called the National Student Survey (NSS). This produces a very influential ranking of all universities and colleges in England in terms of how the education they provide is perceived by their students. Top of this ranking every year is the…

This paper presents and discusses the initial findings of a mobile language learning project undertaken in the context of an undergraduate distance-learning French language programme at The Open University (UK). The overall objective of the project was to investigate students' experiences when using their own portable devices for additional…

This research uses adapted self-assessment questionnaires to examine the relationships between the learning motivation, learning strategies, self-efficacy, attribution and learning results of 135 distance learners. The aim is to model the relationship between psychological characteristics and learning results of distance learners. The outcomes of…

This investigation compared outcomes in disabled and non-disabled students taking courses by distance learning with the Open University UK in 2003. Students with mental health difficulties showed poorer course completion than non-disabled students. Students with restricted mobility and students with other disabilities showed lower pass rates than…

This article argues that in the drive to develop e-learning initiatives in distance learning, simpler ways of supporting students for retention may be overlooked; for example, the linking of students in the form of mentoring and peer support networks. The article reports on three mentoring projects, in the United Kingdom, Korea and New Zealand,…