This book describes the history, structure and institutions of open and distance education in six countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, the UK and the US. It discusses how open and distance education is evolving in a digital age to reflect the needs and circumstances of national higher education systems in these countries, and explores…

The "Technology Outlook Australian Tertiary Education 2013-2018: An NMC Horizon Project Regional Analysis" reflects a collaborative research effort between the New Media Consortium (NMC) and Open Universities Australia to help inform Australian educational leaders about significant developments in technologies supporting teaching,…

This book, written by authors representing 12 countries and five continents, is a collection of international perspectives on distance learning and distance learning implementations in higher education. The perspectives are presented in the form of practical case studies of distance learning implementations, research studies on teaching and…

Development of a national higher education market in Australia provides the opportunity for open-access universities to develop recruitment strategies based on the experience of North American institutions. Implications are drawn for focusing on student learning potential, reorganizing the curriculum, integrating recruitment and teaching/learning…

Reviews the historical development of adult and continuing education as provided through the Open University system of Great Britain. An interview with the librarian for Oxford's Department of External Studies examines the current status of the program and describes the library services available to participants. (8 references) (CLB)

This report makes recommendations for the establishment of an active research and evaluation program for the Open Learning Institute (OLI) and the Knowledge Network (KN) of British Columbia (Canada). It is suggested that the OLI and KN programs develop a framework for evaluating their own performance, that the database be improved to provide…

This examination of the educational and economic advantages of using videocassettes instead of broadcast television for Open University distance education begins by noting that, while the potential importance of television in distance education is widely recognized by educators, students appear to be less appreciative. The Video Cassettes Loan…

Focusing primarily on educational television, the use of various media in open universities and distance education settings is examined in order to determine whether particular conditions must be met for the successful use of the particular medium or media in collaborative projects. It is noted that there is no logical, step-by-step procedure for…

At the end of 1986 a survey of 1,200 new and 1,200 continuing undergraduate students of the Open University (Great Britain) was undertaken which addressed the related issues of costs of studying and access to television and video equipment for study purposes. The overall response rate was 75.4% when the data were analyzed in March 1987. Analyses…

Asserting that the traditional system of higher education is not capable of meeting the ever-increasing demands of a developing country such as India, this paper suggests possible alternative methods of higher education. In addition to in-depth descriptions of the United Kingdom's Open University at Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, and the Regional…

This book challenges the notion that the open university is a recent invention and argues that in Britain there is a long and varied tradition of similar developments, and that there has been a significant 20th century reduction in the openness of universities, particularly in the period from the 1950s to the 1970s. Selected examples of open…

Attempts to draw comparisons between the different ways that distance education methods have been used for postsecondary education. Emphasizes the differences in scale, curricula, teaching approaches, and resource levels at different institutions in different nations. Explores problems such as lack of discussion, inflexibility, high cost of…

Addresses one of three major challenges facing distance education--its claimed overreliance on behaviorist approaches to teaching and learning. Maintains that distance learning encourages students to review their own learning approaches and to be more proactive about their study methods. (CFR)

This guide on implementation of open learning in Great Britain provides information on resourcing, resource deployment, and costing and pricing. It begins by drawing attention to points of importance to those engaged in forming policy on the provision of open learning. These are presented in a series of flowcharts giving quick reference to…

This paper briefly identifies a number of contemporary pressures for change which condition the way universities will behave and which provide both opportunities and threats for the future; it then goes on to consider the implications for distance education universities. Pressures on universities include such factors as the growth of other…