This report presents findings from the second national survey of distance education undertaken by the National Center for Education Statistics. The survey covers the 12-month 1997-98 academic year and includes data for higher education institutions as well as all 2-year and 4-year postsecondary institutions. Highlights of the report include the…

Two open universities created in Canada in the 1970's--Athabasca and Teleuniversite--are examined from an administrative/management perspective. A study reveals that effective planning requires balanced attention to means and ends, new management structures are required, and committed leadership is needed. (Author/MLW)

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)

The international literature on learning at a distance is reviewed with attention to student participation, faculty issues, the technology of delivery, necessary support systems, and the organization and process of distance education. Distance education is used in many content areas in economically diverse countries. Individuals who must learn at…

Completion and cost data for six courses delivered in two different modes--home study and paced package--through Athabasca University were analyzed. Students in a home study course received tutorial support via the telephone and progress through the course was at the discretion of each individual learner. Students in a paced package course…

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,…

The development of course materials at the Open Learning Institute, British Columbia, Canada, is examined from two perspectives: as an industrial process and as a social process. The public institute provides distance education through paced home-study courses. The course team model used at the Institute is a system approach. Course development…

Student attrition at the Distance University in the Federal Republic of Germany was studied. The Distance University, which was founded in December 1974, offers the following departments: mathematics and computer sciences, electrical engineering, economics and law, and education and the social sciences. The university is directed toward people…

The expansion of higher education in the United States has resulted in a variety of outreach programs to bring postsecondary education off the campus and into the community. New systems and programs of nontraditional study have emerged. Issues of current concern in open learning include: quality and effectiveness, outreach and access, research and…

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…

The anticipated growth of nontraditional education programs in higher education and the recognized need to carefully evaluate the potential economic impact of such programs inspired this study to: (1) evaluate the economics of five varied nontraditional institutions; (2) assist each of the traditional and nontraditional institutions participating…

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…

The British Open University (OU) offers university degree programs to adults who are employed and study at home. It does so through a nationwide universal access (open admission) policy. A key feature of this program is that it imposes traditional university standards of excellence. Access is not limited by formal entry requirements, geography,…