Distance guidance for lifelong learners in Hong Kong: development of an online programme preference assessment instrument

In order to build a knowledge‐based society and meet the needs of lifelong education, open learning opportunities are growing at exponential rates. While such growth is commendable, there appears to be a very strong demand for distance guidance services in open education programme selection. The purpose of this study was to develop the online self‐directed inventory, the Academic Programme Preference Instrument (APPI), for the lifelong learners in Hong Kong. The methods of questionnaire survey and standardized psychological measurement were employed. In this study, 2775 respondents were surveyed in order to identify and verify the inventory, using a multistage stratified cluster sampling technique. The inventory consists of 112 items under nine personal attribute types, namely: organizational; mechanical; scientific; sociological; mathematical; literary; musical; aesthetic; and social service. Eighty‐nine distance and continuing education professionals were invited to help to determine the most important personal attributes that a learner should possess in order to meet the minimum entry requirements of each of the 73 education programme categories that account for over 800 open education programmes in Hong Kong. The online APPI, in English and Chinese versions, has been linked to the homepage of the Hok Yau Club in Hong Kong for the public to use freely. As Hong Kong aims to foster lifelong learning in a knowledge‐based society, it is expected that the APPI can help lifelong learners to make wise open education programme selection and to enhance learners’ success in pursuing continuing education.     

A model for self‐regulated distance language learning

The role of learner autonomy and self‐regulated learning in distance education has received much attention. The application of these concepts impacts course design and, potentially, learner achievement. In the case of distance language learning, course designers must consider not only how to help learners gain communicative competence but also language learner strategies that support success. Although the concepts of autonomy and self‐regulated learning share some similarities, they have been variously defined and applied to distance education. Current research and discussion has not synthesized the ways in which these factors can be more fully utilized to improve distance education. Based on a critical review and synthesis of the literature on autonomy and self‐regulation, this article contributes a new model for distance language learning. The model provides guidance for course designers and assists instructors in supporting their students.     

Direct and indirect effects of online learning on distance education

This paper presents an exploratory study that investigates the effects of online learning on distance education students in an open university context. Two hypotheses are posited: (1) a direct relationship exists between students’ involvement in online learning and distance learning outcomes, and (2) an indirect relationship exists between these two domains via the mediating variable of an institutional Transactional Presence (TP), that is, a student's sense of the availability of and connectedness with an educational institution. Student learning achievement, satisfaction and intent‐to‐persist are used as indicators of outcomes of distance learning. The analysis of data garnered from 285 distance students reveals multifaceted relationships between students’ engagement in online learning, their perceptions of institutional TP and the three learning outcome variables. Besides the findings, the paper will discuss factors affecting students’ engagement in online learning in relation to different requirements, that is, optional or compulsory online use as well as the level of the course (undergraduate or postgraduate).     

远程开放教育网络课程建设思考——基于在线课程设计课程的评价分析

通过优秀网络课程个案在线课程设计的简要剖析,总结其在教学平台、教学设计、交互安排、评价方法以及支持服务等方面所具有的突出特点,以亲身的网络学习体验获得对远程开放教育网络课程建设工作实践的感悟与启发,进而提出进一步优化建设的建议思路。     

Academic Integrity in Electronic Universities of the New Millennium: a Practitioner's Perspective

Drawing upon its experience as a pioneer of open and distance learning in the management education field, the Open University Business School of the United Kingdom has now extended its system of student communication and support to include the use of computer‐mediated conferencing as a mass teaching tool. After outlining the method of supported open learning practiced by this Business School, the article describes the use of computer‐mediated conferencing in the graduate entry course to the MBA programme, a course that attracts some 1,500 managers each year from across Europe. The article then summarizes two years of student evaluation of their use of computer‐mediated conferencing as a learning support medium. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of student reactions to computer‐mediated conferencing for the future effective use of information and communications technologies (ICT) in management education.     

Teachers' views on and use of printed materials in a distance learning teacher education course

Despite the heavy emphasis on online learning in recent years, print is still an important medium for course delivery in distance education. Distance educators have argued that, with the incorporation of appropriate access structures, distance learning materials can be self‐instructional and interactive. This study aims to explore the extent to which students on a distance teacher education course considered that the print materials had achieved the course objectives, and how they made use of the in‐text access structures. The results indicate that, although teachers on the course agreed that the materials were able to achieve the course objectives, the extent to which they made use of the access devices varied considerably.     

Distance Learning Course Design Expectations in China and the United Kingdom

This article provides insight into different expectations between Chinese and British academic culture for distance learning. The article is based on a pedagogic research project, a case study, and is centered on a distance learning course in maritime law proposed by a British university for a university in China. Some important commonalities and gps between perceptions of deliverers and receivers of the proposed course were identified. There were important differences between Chinese and UK respondents about the value of open educational resources, the sequential access to course materials, the type of technologies that were important for delivery of content and for communication, the value of peer assessment, and the time expectations for feedback. Recommendations are suggested for bridging the cultural gaps in distance learning between a British and Chinese context.     

Online or On Campus: A Student Tertiary Education Cost Model Comparing the two,with a Quality Proviso

This paper presents the development and validation of a two‐level hierarchical cost model for tertiary education, which enables prospective students to compare the total cost of attending a traditional Baccalaureate degree education with that of the same programme taken through distance e‐learning. The model was validated by a sample of Greek university students familiar with both traditional and distance learning who evaluated them in a survey, indicating that the cost advantage of distance e‐learning was tempered by the perception that traditional learning has an advantage from the standpoint of quality. The paper also offers several strategies that might help address students' concerns about the quality of distance e‐learning.     

Self‐regulated learning ability of Chinese distance learners

This study reports on self‐regulated learning (SRL) of Chinese distance learners by using a structured SRL scale. SRL of adult and lifelong learners is a well‐researched area, though its application within distance education is a new area of investigation. Open and distance learning lean heavily on self‐learning and self‐learning resources, though interaction at designated learning centers and online learning platforms is occasionally offered. In China, there is still persistence of the age‐old teacher‐centric model of teaching‐learning; and, within distance education offered largely by the radio and television universities, there is insistence for regular tuition classes at designated branch schools. At the backdrop of understanding and enhancing SRL of Chinese distance learners, the authors took up this research to find out the elements and levels of SRL ability among Chinese distance learners. Based on factor analysis (on 357 students for item analysis and on 600 distance learners for structural validity of the initial 117‐item scale), a standardized 54‐item Self‐regulated Learning Ability Scale was finalized and administered on a random sample of 2738 undergraduate learners (1630 males and 1108 females) from the Open Distance Education Centre of Beijing Normal University, P.R. China, doing an online course during 2009–10. The sample came from either senior high school (grade 12) or junior college (grade 14). Data on four dimensions of SRL—planning, control, regulating and evaluation—were analyzed using ‘t’ test for variables of gender, level of education and age. Results indicated that all the participants had above‐average levels of SRL in all the four dimensions of planning, control, regulating and evaluation. In so far as gender was concerned, male distance learners were better in SRL than female distance learners, especially in control (ie, content and resources) and all the evaluation dimensions. Though no age difference was found, students from junior colleges had better planning, regulating and evaluating abilities than those who came from senior high schools. These results have been discussed in the context of current changes in Chinese distance/online education and also in relation to the age‐old Chinese culture of learning. The results will also have implications for designing distance and online learning generally.     

远程学习材料的特色分析与比较——香港公开大学远程学习材料案例分析

香港公开大学把发展优质的教材和提供良好的学生学习支持作为远程教育的核心所在。本文在对香港公开大学的远程学习材料介绍的基础上，分析了远程学习材料需要具有的特色。并以图式方式进行了比较，以期对内地的远程学习材料的设计有所帮助。     

构建“以学生为中心“的教学模式

"以学生为中心"是现代远程开放教育的基本理念,渗透在远程教与学的整个过程中。在《微计算机技术》课程教学中,基于TC动机模式,对适合现代远程开放教育"以学生为中心"的教学模式进行了探索。     

远程开放教育新生学习自主性发展行动研究

为探索开放教育中新生学习自主性发展的途径与模式,在开放教育试点专升本英语专业"高级日常英语"课程辅导中开展新生学习自主性行动研究的实践.研究发现,通过教师的远程和面授辅导及参加网上交流活动,开放教育新生逐渐适应了远程学习模式,从被动学习向主动学习过渡,从过分依赖面授课辅导向教师帮助下的自主学习过渡,为开展以后的远程学习奠定了基础.     

远程学习环境下的学生辅导对在学率的影响

以色列开放大学（OUI）是一所以远程学习及自学为主的免试入学的高等学院。对所有高等教育机构,尤其是对远程开放教育机构来说,学生的在学率问题是最被关注的。为应对这一问题,OUI决定实施一项保证在学率的项目,其目的是帮助新生解决在学习第一门课程中遇到的困难。新生和高年级的学生组成对子,由高年级的学生在第一学期作为辅导员帮助他们解决困难。本论文介绍了此项目实施情况并展示了接受辅导的学生的学习情况、就学情况、沟通情况以及他们在远程学习环境中的辅导情况。     

Changing spaces of education: new perspectives on the nature of learning

This case study relates to distance learning students on open access courses. It demonstrates the use of predictive analytics to generate a model of the probabilities of success and retention at different points, or milestones, in a student journey. A core set of explanatory variables has been established and their varying relative importance at different milestones identified. The explanatory variables, milestones and reference points when the model is run will be different at other institutions but the approach may be generalised to distance learning institutions and, more broadly, to any HE institution. Institutions, and especially distance education institutions which do not have the advantages of frequently seeing students, need to make full use of any recorded information they hold to try and identify students who are, or become, at potential risk of leaving. The importance of different factors, at different milestones, may help tailor student support to individual students and therefore improve low retention in open access distance education.     

Situational interest,computer self‐efficacy and self‐regulation: Their impact on student engagement in distance education

This study investigates possible relationships among motivational and learning variables (interest, self‐efficacy and self‐regulation) and three types of student engagement (behavioural engagement, emotional engagement and cognitive engagement) in a distance education setting. Participants were 203 students enrolled in online classes in the fall semester of 2008 in the Schools of Gerontology and Engineering at a large research university in the south‐western USA, who completed an online survey assessing their levels of situational interest, computer self‐efficacy, self‐regulation and engagement in distance education. Situational interest and self‐regulation were found to be significantly correlated with three types of engagement (behavioural, emotional and cognitive), while computer self‐efficacy did not appear to be associated with any of those engagement variables. Results suggested that online activities and tools such as multimedia and discussion boards may increase emotional engagement in online learning, although they do not necessarily increase behavioural or cognitive engagement, that educators should identify students who are taking online courses for the first time and provide necessary technical help to increase their emotional engagement, and that it is important for educators to offer students strategies for increasing their self‐regulation in distance education environments.     

远程开放教育系统中半开卷考试模式的形成与发展

半开卷考试是一种有利有弊的考核方式,电大系统是一个不同于其他院校的开放教育体系,需要借助远程教育教师团队的力量,结合自主学习和协作学习两者的长处,将半开卷考试模式的优势最大化。本文通过实验、问卷调查和访谈的方式,阐述电大系统开放教育半开卷考试模式的形成与发展历程,并研究半开卷考试背景下如何通过建立和完善开放教育教师团队,充分发挥半开卷考试模式的优势。     

Open and distance learning in the Gobi Desert: Non‐formal education for nomadic women

The use of open and distance learning for non‐formal education is much less canvassed in the literature than for formal education. This paper provides a case study, grounded in practice, of the first open and distance learning for non‐formal education in Mongolia, a developing country undergoing rapid transition in the 1990s from a command to a market economy and from communism to a multi‐party democracy. The paper outlines the project and its context, explains the rationale for it, and analyses its achievements, limitations and lessons. It also identifies the additional problems for Open and Distance Education (ODE) in a context of rapid economic transition.     

Sociocultural Factors Affecting the Success of an Online MBA Course

The complexities of the digital age pose challenges to existing instruction technology theory as it applies to a distance learning environment. Research in distance education especially lacks rich qualitative information or holistic analysis that would lead to improve the effectiveness of distance learning environment (Mclsaac & Gu‐nawardena, 1996). Through the lens of activity theory, this study took a broad view of an online course and examines the socio‐cultural mediators affecting the success of a distance course as well as the systematic tensions that characterize the culture of an online course. Recommendations were provided at the group and organizational levels to balance local tensions that emerged in the implementation of a distance course.     

Australian and South Pacific External Studies Association: ODLAA’s regional predecessor

The Australian and South Pacific External Studies Association (ASPESA) – the predecessor of the Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia, Inc. (ODLAA) – was founded in 1973. From the outset, ASPESA adopted a broader‐than‐Australia focus for open and distance learning that included New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and the member countries of the University of the South Pacific. Its interest was firstly on ‘professional’ matters (i.e., an identity for distance education, distance educators, and their professional development). ASPESA forums and workshops spread through various Australian ‘external studies’ institutes and developed the practical and intellectual infrastructure for ASPESA’s aims and objectives.

ASPESA acknowledged its regional and international focus in various ways. The 1981 ASPESA forum was organised jointly by the University of the South Pacific and Massey University, New Zealand, and held in Fiji. Thereafter its regional members played a larger role in ASPESA activities and regional issues appeared on forum agenda. ODLAA and its companion associations around the South Pacific received from their predecessor, ASPESA, a heritage of professionalism and participation in regional and international open and distance learning. In due course, however, differences in distance education environments led New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and then the Pacific island countries to form separate distance education associations, while maintaining links with ASPESA.     

远程开放教育“行政案例分析”课程教材的设计与开发

根据远程教育"基于资源的自主学习"为主的教学模式及其在职成人学习者特点的有关理论,广播电视大学"行政案例分析"课程现有文字印刷教材不适于远程学习的需要,应探索构建与远程开放教育及其学习者特点的适应性教材。