Purpose: Process-oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) is a series of learning activities building on student prior knowledge guiding them to construct their own understanding of new concepts in collaborative roles. This paper aims to illustrate how POGIL worksheets can be adapted for low bandwidth and low-computing environments to accommodate…

This article is prepared as part of a "Practice Teaching in Science" course of a teacher education program aiming for developing prospective science teachers' teaching through inquiry-based instruction involving practices of science and active learning strategies. During the semester, student teachers are required to prepare four…

Apprenticeships for adults are one of the policy solutions to the need for supporting adults willing to train, while broadening the skills base of the working population across Europe. According to Cedefop estimates, there are around 128 million adults with potential for upskilling or reskilling in the European Union (EU). EU Member States have…

Social demand for higher education has more than doubled in the past 20 years. However, only one-third of all countries' higher education systems are enrolling more than 50% of the traditional age cohort. Despite major advancements in achieving higher levels of access and participation, inequalities and inequities in higher education persist and…

Life-long learning is a process. Learning skill ability is common to all as well as individually unique. A learner's beliefs are constantly susceptible to conditioning from external expectations. A discussion reflects on techniques for strengthening distance-learning skills in this technological age.

Open distance learning is viewed as a system of learning that blends student support, curriculum and instruction design, flexibility of learning provision, removal of barriers to access, credit of prior learning, and other academic activities such as programme delivery and assessment for the purpose of meeting the diverse needs of students.…

This paper provides information about noncredit instruction in the California Community Colleges and updates the 2009 paper "Noncredit Instruction: Opportunity and Challenge" to incorporate subsequent changes from the last decade. Since the passage of SB 361 (Scott, 2006), noncredit instruction has seen significant changes, including the…

This reflection outlines the problems associated with the Australian Government's recurrent funding policy for non-government distance education. It demonstrates the policy's inconsistencies with stated government educational policy and with commonly held expectations of fairness in a democratic society. A comparison of the current funding of…

The Open and Distance Learning (ODL) has come to stay as an alternative mode to meet the higher educational requirements of diverse groups. Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), a system leader in India, plays a major role in giving access and equity, besides maintaining and coordinating standards of distance education in the country.…

The chapters in Part IV of "Handbook of Distance Education" (2007), "Policies, Administration, and Management," focus on the ways in which policies encourage or hamper the integration of distance education into mainstream educational institutions. The authors provide insights and perspectives into the key policies, roles, structures, processes,…

The United Kingdom Open University has experimented with a range of information and communication technologies (ICT) to support learners and foster the development of learning communities, including online resources, email, e-messages, SMS messaging, and Second Life. The initial creation of information and resources to support study has been…

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…

Digital libraries play a crucial role in distance learning. Nowadays, they are one of the fundamental information sources for the students enrolled in this learning system. These libraries contain huge amount of instructional data (text, audio and video) offered by the distance learning program. Organization of the digital libraries is…

Over the past six years, the authors have been project leaders for three distance education initiatives in Cape Verde and Mozambique: (1) a blended learning master's degree in multimedia in education for faculty in Cape Verdean public higher education institutions (2005-2008); (2) a teacher training programme for 1375 elementary teachers provided…

Although the recognition of learners' experiential learning toward postsecondary credentials holds the promise of increased flexibility and opportunity for many, especially in the current climate of labour shortage, Canadian universities have been slow to adopt recognition of prior learning (RPL) systems. This case study of one Canadian…