Student support in distance education depends on the market, the package employed, the delivery system, the image of the organization, and the culture in which it operates. If distance education is defined as an industrialized form of teaching and learning, lessons can be learned from the history of traditional higher education. The progress from…

The applications of telecommunications technology, computers, and other technologies are addressed in five papers. In an overview, Raymond J. Lewis, Jr. suggests that colleges and universities are finding that telecommunication technologies offer cost effective ways of reaching adult learners, and that open broadcast television has been the…

The anticipated growth of nontraditional education programs in higher education and the recognized need to carefully evaluate the potential economic impact of such programs inspired this study to: (1) evaluate the economics of five varied nontraditional institutions; (2) assist each of the traditional and nontraditional institutions participating…

Implications of the Open University upon traditional higher education in England and the United States are examined. The history of adult education is reviewed in relationship to working class adults, the Open University, and the traditional British and American higher education. The history of correspondence study and its practical use for…

The British Open University (OU) offers university degree programs to adults who are employed and study at home. It does so through a nationwide universal access (open admission) policy. A key feature of this program is that it imposes traditional university standards of excellence. Access is not limited by formal entry requirements, geography,…

Assuring the quality of education provision is a fundamental aspect of gaining and maintaining credibility for programmes, institutions and national systems of higher education worldwide. Despite a long and generally successful track record, open and distance learning (ODL) is still required to prove that the quality of student learning is at…

This book, written by a team of professional educational technologists drawing on their own experiences at DeMontfort University (England), examines the impact of information technology and the Internet on higher education. The authors caution that the technological possibilities should not be allowed to obscure a fundamental aim of higher…

Both the National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ) and Open College Networks or Federations (OCNs) have the objective of creating nationally coherent frameworks of qualification and training in Britain. However, they are very different organizations and have distinct, though potentially complementary, roles. Issues where the two…

This study provides an extensive review of the literature on distance education and of representative distance education projects and institutions in the United States and abroad, emphasizing those using telecommunications technologies. The introductory section includes a sketch of the information age and its implications for adult education and…

A multivariate model to explain student success and failure at the Open University of the United Kingdom is outlined. The model is based on the results of an evaluation study that explored the suitability of this teaching system for young people under 21 years old. Twenty-three characteristics were designated as social and psychological problems,…

A case study of the Directorate of Correspondence Courses at Panjab University, an Open University school in India, is presented. Areas of discussion include characteristics of the country, the educational system in India, and the Directorate of Correspondence Courses. Specific topics include: the physical setting; the population; the economy; the…

This collection of six essays and six case studies analyzes efforts at reform and the changes that have taken place in Indian higher education over the past four decades. The six essays describe several innovative and interesting programs and analyze key policy areas. After an introduction by Philip G. Altbach and Suma Chitnis, titles include: (1)…

Following a foreword (Ross Paul) and an introduction (Robert Sweet), three sections on instituting postsecondary distance learning systems across Canada are presented: access and student support, educational technology, and institutional response. The first section contains the following: "Women in Distance Education: Towards a Feminist…

The Student Opinion Survey was sent to a random sample of 2,600 Open University (OU) students who had gained at least two credits and were studying during 1984. The response rate was 84 percent. Responses to open-ended questions on about one-third of those questionnaires were analyzed to determine the significant phenomena in students' experiences…

Two major areas of focus emerge from this synthesis of national reports: the question of how to teach students critical and autonomous judgement with regard to the mass media, and how best to use new information and communication technology (NICT) and the media for educational purposes. It is noted that, although there are differences of approach…