The teaching-learning system in India changed significantly during the COVID 19 pandemic situation. Educational institutions adopted blended learning approaches for effective teaching and used digital technologies to deliver academic programs. Online learning during pandemic situations helps learners learn the necessary skills to meet the need for…

This paper describes the functionality, scalability, and cost of implementing and maintaining a suite of open source technologies, which have supported hundreds of thousands of learners in the past year, on an information technology infrastructure budget of less than US$10,000 per year. In addition, it reviews pedagogical opportunities offered by…

Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) has come up with the technology platform known as MyVista which can be used to fulfil teaching and learning activities online. However, it appeared that when the MyVista platform became fully operational from 2017, both students and staff members faced a lot of challenges. To investigate these challenges, this study…

The study investigated whether students perceive their university instructors in a virtual learning environment as leaders. Referring to the full range leadership theory (FRLT), we examined the effects of transformational and passive leadership styles of university instructors on students' satisfaction and learning outcomes. Completed web-based…

How do open and distance learning institutions review and renew themselves to ensure their continued fitness for purpose? Here we report on the work of a change team in the UK Open University, a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning created to examine, innovate and improve student support. The existence of the Centre for five years from…

Online learning and communication requires new perspectives and habits of learning which oftentimes are not readily acquired by students and faculties. The sense of security in the old habits of face-to-face learning may become a hindrance in the development of positive attitude and ease in online communication. This study explored student…

In the techno-driven world, mobile learning is an indispensable element of teaching-learning activities. It helps distance learners in many ways by providing their required facilities. The paper discusses about these facilities in an eclectic and summary manner. Thus, by implication, it is popularized among distance learners across the globe.…

We report on a study involving Masters-level students who blogged as a part of a distance-learning course at the Open University, UK. We present an empirically-grounded framework that can be used to guide educators when they are considering blogging as part of their courses, and can be used by students' whose courses include blogging activities.…

The study aims to identify the economic profiles of Open Education Faculty students and to determine the relationship between their economic profiles and the following of online courses using Internet. In the study survey model was used. The population of the study was composed of 4652 Anadolu University Open Education Faculty students who live in…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and implementation of an open access, graduate education course where openness, connectivism, and social learning are guiding principles. The described experience aims to offer insight into developing courses that respond to changes in the manner in which individuals learn, connect, and…

An online group work project for off campus students, using wikis as the collaboration platform, has been conducted successfully for several years. Students were given the opportunity and technical means to collaborate, and staff could assess individual students' participation. However, the actual level of collaboration was less than hoped for,…

Making educational materials freely available on the web can be seen as a noble enterprise in itself but as a way to address the call for people to become lifelong learners. The world is rapidly changing, requiring us to continuously update our knowledge and skills. A problem with this approach to lifelong learning is that the free materials that…

What constitutes successful practice for supervision of postgraduate students at an Open and Distance learning institution? In this article I describe a limited experiment in on-line teaching using a group of postgraduate students at the University of South Africa (Unisa). While the experiment has obvious limitations including the short time in…

With the development of new digital technologies and their gradual introduction into the language classroom, the Internet enables students to reach out beyond the confines of traditional teaching and learning settings, allowing previously non-existent access to foreign languages and cultures. On the one hand, the web allows learners to find…

The need to support users of the Internet with the selection of information is becoming more important. Learners in complex, self-organising Learning Networks have similar problems and need guidance to find and select most suitable learning activities, in order to attain their lifelong learning goals in the most efficient way. Several research…