Research has suggested that independent study students in online courses may benefit from engaging with a proximate community of engagement (PCE) and that students perceive that such engagement will help them succeed. Independent Study students were surveyed at the completion of their course to assess the level at which they actually interacted…

This paper examines the students' experiences with instructional delivery (ID) of distance and online learning of undergraduate mathematics in two major Nigerian universities. Purposive sampling was used in the study to select mathematics students from University of Lagos Distance Learning Institute (DLI) and the National Open University of…

The high number of non-enrolment students had decreased the retention rates in the Indonesia Open University. Prior studies revealed that student support had a pivotal role in enhancing student persistence. Therefore, this study was aimed to explore contribution of student support in increasing student persistence by employing mixed methods…

This paper argues that dual mode provision has a critical role to play in widening participation. The mixed methods study drew on institutional records, an online survey (n = 126) and 17 semi-structured interviews to explore the participation experience of a group of distance graduates (n = 268) from a dual mode university. Derived from the…

This paper presents the successes and challenges faced in implementing the dual-mode strategy in higher education in the context of feminist theory. Worldwide, women's universities have been established by governments and private organisations to involve women more fully in the country's economic, political and social activities. The establishment…

Interaction plays a significant role to foster usability and quality in online education. It is one of the quality standard to reveal the evidence of practice in online distance education models. This research study aims to evaluate levels of interaction in the practices of distance education centres. It is aimed to provide online distance…

Distance education systems have emerged as increasingly accessible and indispensable features in education owing to the development and spread of communication technologies and the transformation of individual characteristics, needs and demands. With the growing popularity of distance education programs, detailed analysis of their actual success…

Most of the literature on mobile language learning is located in classroom contexts, and often concerns the use of resources developed by teachers or researchers. However, we also need to understand learner initiated practices, in informal as well as formal settings, where mobile language learners are increasingly using digital resources. In this…

Most distance learning institutions collect vast amounts of learning data. Making sense of this 'Big Data' can be a challenge, in particular when data are stored at different data warehouses and require advanced statistical skills to interpret complex patterns of data. As a leading institute on learning analytics, the Open University UK instigated…

The effective communication between the learners and the tutor-counsellor has been proved to significantly promote the positive emotions, reduce the negative ones and reinforce the learners' participation in a distance learning program. The main purpose of our research is to investigate the emotions experienced by the learners of the Hellenic Open…

The purpose of this research is to identify the perceptions of the efficacy of curriculum development on the part of pedagogical formation students, their views regarding their professional attitudes, and their attitudes towards the pedagogical formation education they receive via distance education. The study sample includes 438 Near East…

Technology-based learning modules are mostly challenged by their acceptance. A single-case study and mixed research method are used to explore a unique situation of applying digital lectures at the postgraduate Programmes at the Faculty of Tourism at Damascus University as a solution for brain drain in the Syrian higher education system. Results…

This article reports two studies undertaken at The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, a vocational distance education (DE) provider, where course completion rates have risen to match those of face-to-face technical institutions. A simple model of student engagement is presented, which reflects the triality between the student, institution, and…

Open distance students differ in their preparedness for higher education studies. Students who are less self-regulated risk failure and drop out in the challenging milieu of open distance learning. In this study, the differences between the application of self-regulated learning strategies by low and high achievers were explored. A multi-method…

The adoption of blended learning to widen access, reduce cost, and improve the quality of education is becoming prevalent in higher education in sub-Saharan Africa and Tanzania in particular. University of Dar es Salaam and the Open University of Tanzania offer various blended learning courses using Moodle system via regional centres scattered…