This paper describes the functionality, scalability, and cost of implementing and maintaining a suite of open source technologies, which have supported hundreds of thousands of learners in the past year, on an information technology infrastructure budget of less than US$10,000 per year. In addition, it reviews pedagogical opportunities offered by…

Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) has come up with the technology platform known as MyVista which can be used to fulfil teaching and learning activities online. However, it appeared that when the MyVista platform became fully operational from 2017, both students and staff members faced a lot of challenges. To investigate these challenges, this study…

Global information resources and sophisticated technology have accelerated the availability and utilization of Online Information Resources (OIR) in the Open Distance Learning environment. The study examines the contributions of OIR to Open Distance and Lifelong Learning in relation to three purposively selected dual-mode institutions in…

Distance universities excel in using digital media technologies for content delivery and collaborative interaction to compensate for limited face-to-face opportunities. Now that an ever-growing variety of media technologies, devices, and services are flooding the market, possession of expertise about the educational opportunities of these…

Present paper seeks to analyse the system of face to face programme delivery adopted by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) for its distance learners over a period of two and half decades. The paper also analysed that with the growth in student enrolment, new schemes of face to face programme delivery was developed and implemented and…

This article offers reflections arising from a recent colloquium at the Open University on the implications of the development of digital humanities for research in arts disciplines, and also for their interactions with computing and technology. Particular issues explored include the ways in which the digital turn in humanities research is also a…

Meeting the needs of students in a continually evolving education environment has created new challenges and opportunities for Open and Distance Learning (ODL) Institutions. Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) across the nation are designing new programs to promote students' achievements and graduation. The technological developments provide new…

Open Educational Resources (OER) is terminology that refers to educational resources (content and software) distributed through the Internet, free of charge and freely accessible, expanding learning opportunities for adult learners. This terminology first appeared around 2002, although its roots can be traced to the open architecture of the…

UT (Universitas Terbuka), the open university in Indonesia, is one of the large universities in Indonesia that has more than 300,000 students. UT, as a distance learning education, has conducted online tutorial since 2001. The implementation of an effective and efficient online tutorial depends on three components: students, tutors, and supporting…

Open Universities across the world are embracing ICT based teaching and learning process to disseminate quality education to their learners spread across the globe. In India availability and access of ICT and learner characteristics are uneven and vary from state to state. Hence it is important to establish the facts about ICT access among…

There is surprisingly little analysis of the employment and earnings impact on students of taking and completing Internet-based programs and of how it compares with earnings outcomes for graduates of face-to-face universities. This paper analyzes a follow-up survey of students who began attending the virtual Internet-based Open University of…

Zimbabwe Distance Open University is enrols students from both urban and rural settings. The majority of students living and working in rural areas have limited or no access to computers and electricity as a result the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the learning process is very limited. Though government has realized the…

This paper considers the issues that distance teachers in higher education who are not writing specialists face in supporting their students' academic writing development. We discuss the usefulness of open web-based writing support resources, and propose the need for a system that serves as an interface with these resources. Such a system should…

The study investigated whether students perceive their university instructors in a virtual learning environment as leaders. Referring to the full range leadership theory (FRLT), we examined the effects of transformational and passive leadership styles of university instructors on students' satisfaction and learning outcomes. Completed web-based…

Multimedia educational resources play an important role in education, particularly for distance learning environments. With the rapid growth of the multimedia web, large numbers of educational video resources are increasingly being created by several different organizations. It is crucial to explore, share, reuse, and link these educational…