Purpose: The purpose of this article is to explore to what extent there are variations in the development of graduates once in employment; to what extent these variations can be explained by differences in the higher education systems; and what the current moves towards greater harmonisation between these systems might mean for graduates'…

Knowledge Cartography is the discipline of visually mapping the conceptual structure of ideas, such as the connections between issues, concepts, answers, arguments and evidence. The cognitive process of externalising one's understanding clarifies one's own grasp of the situation, as well as communicating it to others as a network that invites…

This paper reviews the role of assessment in student learning and its relationship with the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). There is ample evidence of technology-led innovations failing to achieve the transformations expected by educators. We draw upon existing research to illustrate the links between aspects of student…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between older learners' demographic characteristics and their satisfaction with distance learning in the Web-based environment at National Open University in Taiwan (NOUT). Increases in the older adult population have had many impacts throughout societies. The major purpose of older…

This article explores the role of adult and continuing education practitioners in Hong Kong as a function of contexts and conceptions of practice. A historical evolutionary approach is used to analyze how roles of practitioners differ in three periods--adult education, continuing education, and lifelong learning. It is revealed that practitioners…

Professional development for distance tutors is traditionally delivered through texts or websites, supplemented by face to face workshops. However, one of the major challenges is to ensure that they engage with the materials and carry away something which is of value to their practice. At the Open University (UK) our 8000 tutors work from home,…

Is the curriculum in British universities being influenced by decisions about ownership of intellectual property rights (IPR) in "open educational resources" (OERs) that are available online under Creative Commons licenses, free of charge? This paper provides the context for, describes and analyses three significant examples in British…

The steady expansion of college enrollment rates over the last generation has been heralded as a major step toward reducing chronic economic disparities. But many of the policies that broadened access to higher education--including affirmative action, open admissions, and need-based financial aid--have come under attack in recent years by critics…

The term "open university" was coined by that visionary "seedsman" of reformist ideas Michael Young in an article for a 1962 number of "Where?" magazine. He proposed an "open university" to prepare people for external degrees at London University, with three key functions: (1) to organise new and better…

This paper presents the main findings, and lessons learned, from introducing a synchronous peer collaboration activity in a distance learning computer science course. Synergo, a software that supports such an approach, was used in this activity. The organizational, technical, and academic challenges of introducing this activity in the course are…

The ideological moorings of distance education, both as a discipline and as a mode, rest on cognisance of multiple and varying contexts of learners, which it aims to address through responsive course content creation and delivery strategies. One of the frames through which the context needs to be understood is gender. There is research stating…

In the UK, the attainment of White graduates (as measured by the class of honours that they have been awarded) tends to be higher than that of graduates from other ethnic groups. This is apparent, in particular, in graduates who have taken courses by distance learning with the Open University. Analysis of data from Open University graduates over…

This article presents a study carried out in the area of distance learning electronic forums. Based on the relevant bibliographic review, electronic forums are increasingly becoming part of the learning process. The specific study was stimulated by previous works relevant to the modelling of the behaviour of IT students at Hellenic Open University…

The Community broadcasting system poised for start-up in Bangladesh. Long run media-based NGOs, along with other NGOs and the private sector, were attempting to introduce community radio (CR) in Bangladesh. Both the public and private university are also considering a CR station on campus. In CR what will be new and attractive to the learners is…

There is little systematic evidence on the experience of disabled students in higher education. In this study, equal numbers of disabled and nondisabled students taking courses with the UK Open University were surveyed with regard to their approaches to studying and perceptions of the academic quality of their courses. Students with dyslexia or…