This paper discusses the critical situations I have been asked to "improve" by providing professional development for teams of adult numeracy and functional mathematics teachers in the post-16 sector in London. These situations have not been identified through any research process, but arise from internal management reviews of course…

There is surprisingly little analysis of the employment and earnings impact on students of taking and completing Internet-based programs and of how it compares with earnings outcomes for graduates of face-to-face universities. This paper analyzes a follow-up survey of students who began attending the virtual Internet-based Open University of…

This typology classifies distance education according to the kinds of instructional support provided by educational agencies and by the dimensions of learner self-sufficiency. The classification is then applied to the educational delivery system in British Columbia. (SK)

This paper discusses a number of problems associated with distance education methods used in adult education and training fields, including limited opportunities for dialogue and group interaction among students and between students and tutors; the expense of updating and modifying mass-produced print and audiovisual materials; and the relative…

In response to obsolescence of knowledge and increased need for continuing education, open and distance higher education formats for higher education are being developed in Europe. These formats use technological advances to make continuing education available. Many European Community nations have well organized systems of open university…

Research evaluated the effectiveness of varying television (TV) lesson formats. Adults ranging in age from 17 to 58 viewed lessons in accounting and psychology in four formats featuring: 1) a storyline running through a lesson; 2) a news magazine format dealing with different concepts in one lesson; 3) a non-authoritarian narrator; and 4) an…

This book contains 19 papers grouped in three sections that lead the reader through the process of planning, producing, and presenting materials in open and distance learning, based on experience in Great Britain. Following an overview by Roger Lewis, the Planning section contains the following six papers: "Resources and Constraints in Open…

The Open University is recognized as a model of innovation in higher education, not merely for advances in the use of communications technology, but also for demonstrating the applications of such principles of technology as systems design, division of labor, and management by objectives to the educational tasks of course development, instruction,…

This book examines the effects of a 1988 policy decision of the British Open University (OU) requiring all distance learners to acquire a personal computer (PC) on their own and use it to conduct their distance education as OU students. The following topics are discussed in the book's nine chapters: potential, history, and development of computers…

This guide, which is aimed primarily at those responsible for providing learning opportunities within further education in England and Wales, deals with managing open learning. Addressed in the individual chapters of the guide are the following topics: the nature of open learning; the production of learning materials; the impact of open learning…

This document contains 43 papers from a conference on researching inclusion. The following are among the papers included: "Include Me Out: Critique and Contradiction in Thinking about Social Exclusion and Lifelong Learning" (Paul Armstrong); "The Linking of Work and Education To Enable Social Inclusion" (Dave Beck);…