Nursing has employed distance education for decades. In the 21st century, distance programs have often been delivered online. This became even more prevalent since the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the preponderance of online nursing courses, the delivery of courses virtually does not necessarily mean that these offerings are intentionally developed…

Increasingly, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is having an impact on distance-based higher education, where it is revealing multiple ethical issues. However, to date, there has been limited research addressing the perspectives of key stakeholders about these developments. The study presented in this paper sought to address this gap by investigating…

Most educators' inability to provide learning contents that suit different learning styles has caused a lot of problems in terms of performance. Thus, to cater to students' preferences in terms of access to learning contents, the distance learning regulatory body in Nigeria emphasized that course materials should be developed in mixed-media…

This study explored the complex dynamics of student engagement, community of inquiry, and transactional distance in online learning environments. The study analyzed 1,281 participants' responses to identify the factors contributing to online learning outcomes. The research highlighted the crucial role that transactional distance and community of…

The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between factors leading to student loyalty in open and distance learning universities. Specifically, this research explores the relationship between perceived service quality, perceived e-service quality, and university image as mediators of student loyalty in Open University Malaysia…

This study investigated how open and distance learning (ODL) reform was managed within the Institute of Extramural Studies (IEMS), at the National University of Lesotho (NUL). The reform was introduced during the 2017/18 academic year with first-year programmes in three departments: (a) Adult Education; (b) Business and Management Development; and…

In recent decades, there has been a steady growth in the population who enter higher education in both brick-and-mortar and, in particular, online universities. This has led to an increase in heterogeneous student profiles in a relatively short period of time. The purpose of this paper was to explore the student profiles at a university that gives…

This paper focuses on the experiences of Indigenous learners at Athabasca University. Having access to online education provided a sense of normalcy for students during the global pandemic while many post-secondary institutions and Indigenous communities were closed. The purpose of the research was two-fold: (1) to determine the dynamics of…

This paper explores learners' awareness of and satisfaction with the e-services that an open university provides its learners through its Website. The paper further highlights the influence of age, gender, and education levels on learners' awareness and satisfaction levels. A case-study approach was adopted and an online survey was used to collect…

This study examined the similarities and differences in the processes and facilities for distance education at National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), a single-mode distance learning institution, and Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, a dual-mode distance learning institution. The study adopted a case study research design, with a…

Mexico's national university (UNAM) is a public mega university with a 46-year history in open education. This article presents an analysis based on the open, online, flexible provision of technology-enhanced higher education (OOFAT) model, developed by Orr and his colleagues (2018). The aim of this analysis was to characterize UNAM's open and…

Correspondence courses have been offered in Brazil since the late 19th century; in the 20th century, instructional media such as radio and television were successfully used long before the introduction of the Internet. However, distance education (DE) was officially established in Brazil only in 1996 by the National Educational Law of Policies and…

In recent years, quality assurance (QA) in higher education has received increasing attention by academics, learners, institutions, and governments alike. Many open universities (OUs) have taken steps to re-define or re-orient their systems and practices to integrate quality. While there is a growing body of literature on QA best practices, there…

This paper considers the current state of the United Kingdom Open University (UKOU) and the implications for the evolution of higher education, whether through open or traditional institutions. Although 50 years have passed since the establishment of UKOU, the first open university, such institutions seem to be losing their ground, notably because…

We begin by summarising Prasad's (2018) work on the disconnect between the social purposes of open universities and their achievement. Next, we will revisit the concept of the iron triangle from the 1990s, which explores the three topics access, cost, and quality. How does it apply to distance education conducted with today's technologies? A…