The Open University in England will be geared primarily toward adult students and will occupy about 30 hours of broadcast time weekly. Courses will be revised at least every three years. Analysis of cost effectiveness cannot be phrased simply in terms of the number of graduates. (MF)

Describes the West Germany "Fernuniversitaet," an innovative distance education university. Organization, governance, enrollment, course content, and research activities are discussed. (SK)

Discusses problems with using performance measures for distance education that are meant for traditional education, based on experiences at the Open University/Open College of British Columbia and Athabasca University in Alberta (Canada). Considers performance indicators and accountability, and suggests indicators more appropriate for distance…

Tutor training for distance education is still necessary and through a face-to-face mode despite advances in digital delivery mechanism. A questionnaire records the before, during, and after training perceptions and feedback of tutors on the training conducted over 1 day. Tutors become aware of the uniqueness of the course materials and the…

Purpose: This paper aims to summarise the methods and main findings of a study of the environmental impacts of providing higher education (HE) courses by campus-based and distance/open-learning methods. Design/methodology/approach: The approach takes the form of an environmental audit, with data from surveys of 20 UK courses--13 campus-based,…

The proceedings of the inaugural session of this UNESCO-sponsored seminar, which reviewed new developments in higher education in the Asia and Pacific region and formulated a proposal for the establishment of a regional resource center for distance education, are presented in four chapters. The first introduces the seminar's purpose, summarizes…

An economic analysis of the Open University with an attempt to examine the economic implications of establishing an open learning system in the United States. (Author)

A discussion of the role of the consultant in the Open University in Great Britain. (HB)

This article examines the various aims and methods of open universities and compares them with the system pioneered by Britain's Open University. He discusses the differences between open university systems, the place of the media, and the potential for conflict created by differing control systems. (CT)

This report contains information on the following open universities in India: (1) Indira Gandhi National Open University; (2) Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University; (3) Kota Open University; (4) Nalanda Open University; (5) Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University; (6) Madhya Pradesh Bhoj (Open) University; (7) Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open…

The development of distance learning seems assured by students' needs, faculty recognition of its effectiveness, and institutional efficiencies. While the United States is not likely to have a British-style open university, it has many institutions developing new ways to serve students, combining new technologies with new ways of teaching and…

We know assessment plays a major formative role in driving student learning appropriately, but what implications does this have for online courses? Is it more important than in a face to face context, or less so? Should we reconceptualize the ways in which we assess students, or are existing methods, tried and tested in conventional teaching and…