Distance education is offered by 4 universities and 34 institutes/directorates in India. All open universities have been brought under the direction of the Indira Gandhi National Open University with regard to networking and determination of grants. The networking has avoided unnecessary duplication of course preparation costs. Distance education…

This handbook describes what must be done to coordinate and manage distance education activities, shares practitioners' tips, provides guidelines for ensuring quality and strategies for building successful programs, and tells how to find specialized information. In addition to offering an introduction to the concepts and activities of distance…

Home study is practiced by most managers, who read or write reports, reflect on work projects and problems, and catch up on professional journals at home. A goal of home study advocates is to make such home study as useful as possible. A management development process known in England as action learning requires that 60 percent of study be done at…

Proceedings of an international conference on open education cover five themes: philosophy and concept, development trends in international perspective, dichotomy of equity and quality, graduates' employment, and the management challenge. Among the 41 conference papers and authors are: "The Idea of an Open University" (Preeda…

As background information for a discussion of India's communication system and its potential for social change, this paper briefly describes the country's physical characteristics, some of its cultural heritage and demographics, and the development of its education and railways. After a discussion of the folk media (traditional changes) of…

These papers address the central objective of the conference: to create a better understanding of the societal determinants and educational response to increased demands from adults for greater access to education. The following papers in Part 1 outline some international trends relating to adults in higher education: "The New Policy Arena of…

A Finnish study sought to verify the "exclusiveness theory" of education developed by Randall Collins. The exclusiveness theory proposes that educational requirements and the educational levels required for employment continually increase, not in response to the actual requirements of jobs, but so that the professions can maintain…

The 16 conference papers in this collection describe various ways in which counselling is used in distance education in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Thailand, the United Kingdom, West Germany, and Zambia. Following an introduction by Alan Tait, the following papers are presented: (1) "Counselling in the Open University of the…

This paper describes how audiovisual media have influenced the way students have learned--or failed to learn--at the Open University at Walton Hall. The paper is based in part on results from a large body of research that has repeatedly demonstrated the interrelatedness of a wide range of factors in determining how or what students learn from…

Students were surveyed to determine the outcomes of participation in an introductory social science course at the Open University (England). The 18 students were taking their first Open University course, and most had little recent formal education. Many were unsure about their ability to handle the course and did not know what to expect of it.…

Admissions at distance education systems is considered for new students (rather than continuing students). Based on a systems analysis, it is noted that there are three major subsystems to carry out the objective of converting applicants into students: the receipt of applications, the allocation of applicants to first year or introductory courses…

Management principles and trends are examined with attention to open higher education. Administrative activity includes policy-making, technical tasks, and institutional direction. Open higher education includes programs to prepare both professional and semi-skilled workers, as well as programs that meet personal and social aims. Participation in…

The plan for the University of Mid-America to establish the autonomous, fully accredited American Open University (AOU) is presented. AOU, a university for working adults who wish to study part-time, will utilize modern communications technologies and methods of distance education. The American Open University will be a nationwide system that will…

Compiled for internal, practical use by staff members of the Centre for the Study of Education in Developing Countries, this selected bibliography on the educational use of media emphasizes its utilization in nonwestern countries. Some general theoretical literature has been included, especially in the area of audiovisual media, since the…

Three objectives are examined in this report: (1) to outline concisely some of the educational questions that course planning teams may wish to address in the early stages of course planning; (2) to provide a short list of resources, principally from the Open University's Institute of Educational Technology (IET), that may aid in course team…