The Open University has been undertaking an extended initiative to improve student retention through enhanced support for at-risk students. This initiative has evolved through a series of stages from ad hoc small scale local interventions relying largely on tutors and student self-referral, to an institution-wide pro-active system implemented by…

This article is based on research and development carried out at the Centre for Outcomes-Based Education at the Open University (OU). It explores the way in which higher education (HE) assessment could meet specific criteria in order to assess the unique qualities that underpin the relationship between practitioner-researchers and the workplace.…

This paper attempts to compare the availability, quality, similarities and differences of students' support services in United Kingdom Open University (UKOU) and Sri Lanka Open University (SLOU) and also to identify and enlist the deficiencies that SLOU students are facing in the student support services. To get the desired end four hundred…

This paper attempts to compare the availability, quality, similarities and differences of student support services in Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) and United Kingdom Open University (UKOU) and also to identify and enlist the deficiencies that AIOU students are facing in the student support services. The study found out that student support…

In Japan, environmental education partnerships among citizens, businesses and local government increased since new legislation was introduced in 2003, but there was little evidence of cross-sector collaboration until recently. Nagoya Open University of the Environment is a highly innovative, multi-sectoral citizen learning system founded in 2005…

The development of autonomous learners is an important goal for language teaching programmes. However, achievement of this goal depends on teachers creating an environment where learners can experience autonomy in order to become more autonomous, a process referred to by Little (2003) as "autonomization". In distance learning, course…

Because of increased competition for scarce resources, marketing has become an important activity of many nonprofit organizations. Higher education institutions, as one of these nonprofit organizations, provide us with excellent examples of this trend (Hayes, 1991). The marketing of higher education has received a tremendous amount of emphasis and…

Looks at the context of the open university, the characteristics of the women students, their motivations, and the problems they face in studying at a distance. (JEG)

This paper examines the origin and implications of adult learners' emotions in the context of an online distance learning programme at the Open University of Cyprus. Various methods for gathering data about learners' emotions related to online learning are used, such as emotion diaries, semi-structured interviews, and email messages. The paper…

The study examined perceptions of the learning environment, coping strategies, and the subjective well-being of undergraduate female students taking on-line courses at the Open University of Israel. Fifty females with learning disabilities (LD) and 73 females without disabilities, 25-39 years old, completed three different questionnaires sent to…

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…

Much Second Language Acquisition research focuses on young learners in the conventional classroom. Instructed adult learners, and in particular those who are learning at a distance, have attracted less attention. This group is substantial and growing: the Open University, the largest higher education language provider in the UK, alone recruits…

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,…

A discussion of how other non-academic fields could be served by a multi-media system combining teaching at a distance with face-to-face tuition, based on the Open University in Great Britain. (Author/HB)

A description of the facilities and philosophy of Britain's unique television university. (LS)