Main areas of stress experienced by married Open University students are reported, especially domestic pressures that are harmful to study. Also considered are the need for guidance, problems of finance, and attendance at summer school. (LBH)

The at-risk and dropout student population at the Open University was examined in a student survey. This article deals with a descriptive model of progress and withdrawal, student motivation, stages of adult development, previous educational background, interplay of characteristics and circumstances, and educational self-concept. (LBH)

The Open University is playing a significant part in "compensatory" education by providing degree-level courses for large numbers of adults who for one reason or another did not go on to degree-level education after leaving school. It has attracted a large number of students from working-class backgrounds. (Author/LBH)

A survey of older adult students at Britain's Open University to learn their characteristics, motivation, expectation, and attitudes about the institution is summarized. Results show that although most adapt well to distance education, certain factors such as cost and examinations are of concern to the students. (MSE)

Students were surveyed to determine the outcomes of participation in an introductory social science course at the Open University (England). The 18 students were taking their first Open University course, and most had little recent formal education. Many were unsure about their ability to handle the course and did not know what to expect of it.…

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…

The way that the Open University system in Great Britain operates and the use of the mass media are discussed in detail. A number of problems the adult student is likely to face are identified, along with basic differences between U.S. and British societies that influence the application of an open university approach. Attention is directed to:…

This inventory and its supplement serve as a catalog or basic reference of external degree programs and proposals in the United States. The first section consists of a list of operational external degree programs, including the degree that can be awarded and the institutions from which it can be obtained. The second section includes information…

Britain's Open University is described as an open admissions university that does not compromise academic standards, a technological system that delivers a traditional education, and a distance learning institution that approximates on a mass scale the tutorial relationship of older British universities. (MLW)

Personal contacts students have with their tutors through the telephone tutoring system established at the Open Learning Institute, British Columbia, Canada, were investigated with completing and noncompleting students. Attention was directed to the frequency of contact with tutors and supportive behaviors tutors extend. For the 118 students, the…

The progress of students under 21 years old at the United Kingdom's Open University (OU) was compared with a sample of mature students, using sociological and psychometric research methods. The research goal was to consider whether the OU's teaching system originally designed for adults is suited to the needs and circumstances of students in the…

Research investigated the relationships between the characteristics of adult learners, aged 17 to 67, and their responses to learning via multi-media instructional programs. Students read materials in accounting and psychology, viewed video lessons and listened to audio tapes; post-treatment data were then collected. Results showed that: 1) the…

Implications of the Open University upon traditional higher education in England and the United States are examined. The history of adult education is reviewed in relationship to working class adults, the Open University, and the traditional British and American higher education. The history of correspondence study and its practical use for…

Provision of orientation programs is of primary importance in postsecondary education in order to help students assess themselves in relation to the challenge presented by their chosen program and institution and to develop the skills necessary to meet that challenge. Open institutions using distance teaching methods have a special responsibility…

This book examines the successes of the Open University (OU), a concept now 25 years old, in overcoming obstacles to higher education faced by nontraditional students, and particularly those faced by older women. The OU has no entry qualification, requires no tests, admits all applicants on a space-available basis, and awards a Bachelor's degree.…