Is the curriculum in British universities being influenced by decisions about ownership of intellectual property rights (IPR) in "open educational resources" (OERs) that are available online under Creative Commons licenses, free of charge? This paper provides the context for, describes and analyses three significant examples in British…

Research into tutoring at a distance has a fairly long history and the functions of tutors in distance education institutions are well understood. Over the past 20 years research into online tutoring has advanced significantly as such institutions have "gone electronic": in this paper we cite published research from the UK Open…

Although programmed instruction per se has not been used at the Open University (OU), the principles of programmed instruction have heavily influenced the development of systematic instruction and this paper describes the OU instructional development process in the context of seven principles of programmed instruction developed by Lysaught and…

Describes the structure and function of China's Central Radio and Television University (CRTVU) and reviews the educational system in China, the types of television classes offered through CRTVU, the student population served, and the issues that have to be faced before television university expansion can occur. Six references are listed. (MBR)

The first part of this paper summarizes the experiences of the Open University in using print, television, and radio to provide postsecondary education to adults. Descriptions of these three components are followed by details on the functions served by each; i.e., how print, television, and radio differ in their ability to educate, and how the…

Co-production occurs when two or more institutions contribute funds and labor to many of the processes of making course components for distance teaching. This paper summarizes reasons for international co-production of multimedia distance teaching courses and provides a lengthy checklist of questions that should be considered before entering upon…

Ten major types of evaluation used at Britain's Open University are outlined, including assessment of access, needs, courses, student progress, tutors and counselors, instructional media, computer assisted instruction, other new technologies, and academic staff. References for further reading are provided. (MSE)