The unprecedented introduction of COVID-19 in Spring 2020 has created an academic earthquake in higher education. There was an instant halt to academic programs, student support, the learning environment, instructional methods, and delivery at all levels. Teacher educational programs were no exception. These programs consist of both coursework and…

The South Asia is at the focus of Post 2015 developmental agenda primarily because of the largest concentration of poor population. Though the region is growing at the rate of 6% during past 20 years the inequalities are on rise. It is a major impediment in the realization of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The glaring socioeconomically…

The North East Region of the country is unique due to its socio-cultural features, geopolitical factors, and abundant untapped natural resources. However, despite being endowed with such uniqueness, the region remains underdeveloped, backward and alienated from the mainland. Since its inception, Indira Gandhi National Open University registered…

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) by the World Health Organization (WHO) in January 2020, prompted a global closure of schools from mid-March 2020, affecting an estimated 1.6 billion learners worldwide according to the United Nations. In response to the negative impacts of…

Although less well established than in other parts of the world, higher education institutions in German-speaking countries have seen a marked increase in the number of open educational resource (OER) initiatives and in government-supported OER funding in recent years. OER implementation, however, brings with it a unique set of challenges in…

In this article, the author explores how technological change is affecting most aspects of our society. In this vein, it is noted that even though education has historically been more resistant to technological change than other societal sectors, recent advances in distance education, specifically online learning, promise to radically disrupt…

People in society have managed to survive and, often, thrive in a world characterized by ever-increasing technological change. Yet technological transience causes or at least exacerbates challenges faced by teachers and teacher education programs when using technology for educational purposes. This article presents frameworks used to assist in the…

Online course design has experienced an upheaval recently with the arrival of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), turning the model which underpins many online courses on its head. In contrast to MOOCs, conventional online courses have usually been designed for small private groups of participants, giving access to closed content and online…

Chinese education has a long history, and the Chinese higher education system is the largest in the world, but distance higher education in China started later than it did in developed countries. This article provides an overview of the recent distance higher education development in China. Specifically, the article discusses the positive impact…

In 2012-2013, the massive open online course (MOOC) approach has been accepted by universities around the world, and outsourcing companies have been launched to provide the infrastructure for it. Current press and blog coverage of the MOOC trend is examined and the range of reactions to it, most of them enthusiastic. MOOCs vary in their…

The article is devoted to the unique experience of distance learning development in the conditions of Russian reality. The model of distance learning in the Institute of Economics, Management and Law (Kazan city, Russia) is created on the basis of educational sphere diagnosis taking into account foreign and Russian experience. The specificity of…

Distance education and its relationship to emerging computer technologies have together offered many promises to the field of education. In practice however, the combination often falls short of what it attempts to accomplish some of the short comings are due to problems with the technology; others have more to do with administration,…

With the growing demand for e-learning along with striving for excellence associated with globalization, there are worldwide calls for enhancing and assuring quality in e-learning, specifically in the context of the developing countries. Such calls for quality enhancement, accountability, added value, value for money, self-evaluation, and role…

Online learning is a descendant of distance education. Online education has a shared history with correspondence learning. In 1873, Anna Eliot Ticknor founded the Society to Encourage Studies at Home. Ticknor's Society established one of America's first correspondence schools, a distance learning option conducted through the mail. This Society was…

E-learning is a field of continuous improvement and change, and the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) institutions are constantly working to extend their offerings beyond their physical limits to meet the learning needs of students in Nevada. Without e-learning many students, especially those living in Nevada's extensive rural areas and…