The purpose of this paper is to give those who work in distance education a better awareness of the factors at work in developing nations and to help those whose profession is national development gain a fuller understanding of distance education. It begins with a discussion of the process of national development which focuses on the factors that…

This paper is a response to a presentation by Joseph Pelton at the 15th World Congress on Distance Education (Caracas, Venezuela, November 1990). The response argues that, while newer technologies will impact on distance education, they will not be the panacea suggested by Pelton. The response also points out that not all "new" technologies are…

Designed to raise awareness of the implications of cable television and satellites for the Open University, this paper indicates why cable television developments will affect the university and the wide range of university people and departments who will be affected by such developments. Four main issues that the university will have to deal with…

A discussion of the future of adult second language learning in Great Britain begins with an overview of the field's current state. It is argued that the large number of adults pursuing foreign language learning in a variety of institutions is not matched by quality of offerings, and attrition is high. A national testing program was developed in…

Case study methodology was used to provide an in-depth examination of influences on distance learners' achievement attributions in order to gather data about educational orientation, study approaches, and beliefs about success and failure. The four subjects were drawn from 15 first-year distance learners pursuing degrees at Anadolu University's…

This paper gives an account of the use of the CoSy conferencing system in an introductory information technology course at the British Open University in 1988. A discussion of the integration of the CoSy system into the existing curriculum is followed by descriptions of the conferencing environment and the interface to CoSy. Profiles of students…

The philosophy and implementation of the Community Leaders Project at Everyman's University (EU), the Open University of Israel, are discussed. The project is designed to narrow social gaps in Israel by upgrading the educational level of disadvantaged populations and by developing indigeneous leadership for decision-making in the most…

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…

Any advice and guidance offered to students about to embark on tertiary level distance education courses should help them to address problems that are not only practical and organizational, but also educational and intellectual. Students need to consider the suitability of distance education for their needs and circumstances as well as the…

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…

Co-production occurs when two or more institutions contribute funds and labor to many of the processes of making course components for distance teaching. This paper summarizes reasons for international co-production of multimedia distance teaching courses and provides a lengthy checklist of questions that should be considered before entering upon…

A model is presented for response to evaluating instruction in a university based on the teaching-at-a-distance concept. Technically appropriate and operationally viable, this model is applied to the National Open University of Venezuela (UNA). The model is based on two principles of educational evaluation: (1) the concept of evaluation as a…

An induction program set up by the Institute of Educational Technology at the Open University (England) in 1977 for new members of the technology faculty is described and evaluated. Two principles were followed in the program: (1) documentation should be carefully selected so as not to overload the participants; and activity-based experiences are…

The Open University is playing a significant part in "compensatory" education by providing degree-level courses for large numbers of adults who for one reason or another did not go on to degree-level education after leaving school. It has attracted a large number of students from working-class backgrounds. (Author/LBH)

This examination of educational institutions and their acceptance of the design and implementation of technologically based instruction considers instructional technology as a subset of technology. Methods of institutional analysis from other disciplines are presented to stimulate research that uses aspects of educational institutions themselves…