A three-year project to adapt existing Open University parenting course materials for a wider range of family and community settings is described. Experience using the materials with informal groups of mothers, and with individuals within the groups, are discussed. (MSE)

A form used in Britain's Open University for teachers to criticize team-developed courses has been improved to allow for more constructive comments, more two-way communication, and continual course improvement. (MSE)

The articles contained in this report represent a diverse collection of pedagogical issues involved in teacher training at a distance in countries throughout the world. Distance education offers pre-service and in-service teachers with both skills training and an opportunity to complete teacher training programs or degrees. The proliferation of…

The Open University of Great Britain provides home-based instruction to nearly 50,000 predominantly-working students via broadcasts and correspondence. Each unit of instruction consists of a combination of text, broadcasts, cassette recordings, assignments, and experiment kits. The per student cost of this delivery system is impressively low,…

Very little is known about how students learn from television, particularly when television is used in conjunction with a prescribed set of written materials. At the Open University of Great Britain, classes have proliferated to the extent that it is not longer possible to broadcast one lecture to accompany each unit of instruction. To reduce air…

The Open University of Great Britain is an open-enrollment, home-based institution in which the majority of the instruction is conducted via broadcasts and correspondence. There are over 50,000 students ernolled in nearly 100 courses which require the transmission of 1,000 television and 1,000 radio broadcasts each year. Recently, research has…

The information systems of nontraditional education are examined. Case studies illustrate the variation in nontraditional programs: Open University of Pennsylvania, British Open University, Prince George's County Library (Maryland), University Without Walls--Skidmore, Empire State College--Saratoga, Minnesota Metropolitan State College, and…

Research on independent learning motivation conducted through in-depth interviews with correspondence students is compared with what is known about the motivation and behavior of people who pursue leisure interests independently: deciding what to study, what resources are needed, and when the learning objectives have been achieved. (MSE)

This pamphlet is intended to assist the consumer in making informed decisions when choosing between distance learning programs. Distance education and distance learners are defined. Included is advice on beginning a program search; choosing a school; accreditation; evaluating quality of electronically offered programs; evaluate non-accredited…

Both author and numerical indexes to ERIC documents on various facets of distance education that were entered in the ERIC database from 1966 through 1985 are provided in this guide to the literature. Topics covered include correspondence study, correspondence schools, distance education, educational radio, educational television, external degree…

Both author and numerical indexes to journal articles on various facets of distance education that were indexed for the ERIC database from the implementation of Current Index to Journals in Education (CIJE) in 1969 to 1985 are provided in this guide to the literature. Topics covered include correspondence courses, correspondence schools,…

At the Open University of Great Britain, certain problems are created by the school's heavy reliance on radio and television broadcasts as a mode of instruction. Students have difficulty: 1) integrating the broadcast with the rest of the course; 2) recognizing the purpose of the broadcast; 3) knowing what to do with the results of the broadcast;…

An experimental program at Sheffield University, Britain, was designed to attract more "minimally qualified" students into the Open University and to test group admission to undergraduate studies. Most of the students would not normally have considered applying to the Open University. Ten of the 11 students passed. (SW)

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)

Financial and other support services for undergraduate students in West Germany's Fernuniversitat are compared with those of Britain's Open University and the factors influencing the problems and successes of each are discussed. These factors include administrative problems, costs, regional cooperation, and admission criteria. (MSE)