Open University

The paper presents the results of the piloting or pilot test in a virtual classroom 1 . This eportfolio was carried out in the 2007-2008 academic year, with students of the Doctorate in Information Society, at the Open University of Catalonia. The electronic portfolio is a strategy for competence based assessment. This experience shows the types of e-portfolios, where students show their work without interactions, and apply the competencebased learning theories in an interactive portfolio system. The real process of learning is developed in the competency based system, the portfolio not only is a basic bio document, has become a real space for learning with competence model. The paper brings out new ideas and possibilities: the competence-based learning promotes closer relationships between universities and companies and redesigns the pedagogic act.

Foley writes that 'focusing on the lives of modern children can be a disquieting experience' (p. 3) because of the absence of a universal definition of well-being. The five outcomes as societal requirements contrast both with a children's rights approach and with children's views. ...

Computers and networks have become the key points that provide an effective means for distance learning sessions. Distance learning in Greece gives the opportunity for a second chance for education for adults and for those who want to update their knowledge or learn new techniques and methods for their work. The aim of the study is to analyze the on

Besides the use of electronic media for delivering lectures, Bangladesh Open University supports with face to face interaction between learners and tutors at the tutorial centres located outside of the main campus. Several factors like conditions and infrastructure of the ...

Previous research studies have shown that students come to distance education courses with variable expectations of the levels of service and support they will receive from their tutors. It has been further suggested , that a specific expectations-led quality assurance process that enables the sharing of these expectations before a course starts could be of mutual benefit to the student and the tutor, as well as generally improving the overall quality of tutor support provided by the distance learning organisation. This process, it is argued, would be appreciated by the students and have beneficial effects on student satisfaction with tutor support and reduce student drop-out and increase course completion rates. Could such a process that asks tutors to collect student expectations before a course begins be instituted effectively into a distance learning organisation and how would students and tutors respond to it?

In the distance teaching institutions where e-learning initiatives are underway and where the planners and administrators grapple with effective adoption and deployment of technology-enabled education, faculty attitude and motivation assume considerable significance. Attitudinal pre-dispositions and institutional and allied barriers (including appropriate policy initiatives) are assumed to play a crucial role in making an effective shift from traditional distance education delivery to web-enabled education and training. Such issues are especially critical to single mode mega universities like the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). This article reports the findings of a study conducted to examine the attitudes of faculty members from IGNOU towards e-learning, and to identify barriers and motivators of e-learning adoption and use. IGNOU, with about 1.5 million students scattered over 32 countries, has been offering e-learning programs for almost a decade. The findings suggest that extensive use of computers and email has a high relationship with positive attitudes towards e-learning. The most significant barriers perceived by the faculty included poor internet access by students and lack of training on e-learning, followed by institutional policy on and instructional design for e-learning. The important motivators included personal interest to use technology, intellectual challenge, and sufficient provision for technology infrastructure.

The ability to provide assistance for a student at the appropriate level is invaluable in the learning process. Not only does it aids the student's learning process but also prevents problems, such as student frustration and floundering. Students' key demographic characteristics and their marks in a small number of written assignments can constitute the training set for a regression method in order to predict the student's performance. The scope of this work compares some of the state of the art regression algorithms in the application domain of predicting students' marks. A number of experiments have been conducted with six algorithms, which were trained using datasets provided by the Hellenic Open University. Finally, a prototype version of software support tool for tutors has been constructed implementing the M5rules algorithm, which proved to be the most appropriate among the tested algorithms.

Background: Thailand is undergoing a health-risk transition with overweight and obesity emerging as an important population health problem. This paper reports on a study of the transition, focusing on ''lifestyle'' factors such as diet (fried foods, soft drinks, Western-style fast foods) and physical activity (mild, moderate, strenuous exercise, housework/gardening and screen time). Methods: A baseline survey was administered to 87 134 adult students from all regions of Thailand attending an open university. Results: 54% of the cohort was female. Participants' median age was 29 years. By self-reported Asian standards, 16% of the sample was obese (body mass index (BMI)>25) and 15% overweight at risk (BMI>23-24.9). Men were twice as likely as women to be overweight (21% vs 9%) or obese (23% vs 10%). Obesity was associated with urban residence and doing little housework or gardening and with spending more than 4 hours a day watching television or using computers. The latter occurred among 30% of the cohort, with a population attributable fraction (PAF) suggesting that it accounts for 11% of the current problem. Daily consumption of fried food was associated with obesity, and eating fried foods every second day or daily had a PAF of nearly 20%. Conclusions: These health-related behaviours underpinning the Thai health transition are associated with increasing obesity. They are modifiable through policies addressing structural issues and with targeted health promotion activities to prevent future obesity gains. Insights into future trends in the Thai health transition can be gained as this student cohort ages.

... DOI: 10.1108/09684880910929926 (Permanent URL). Quality assurance in distance learning libraries. The Authors. Manorama Tripathi, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi, India. VKJ Jeevan, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi, India. Abstract. ...

This paper focuses on university-level education offered by methods of distance learning in the field of computers and aims at the investigation of the main causes for student dropouts. The presented study is based on the students of the Course of "Informatics", Faculty of Science and Technology of the Hellenic Open University and investigates the particularities of education provided through the use of computers and technology in general. This paper presents information about the students' profile, the use of computer technology, the percentage of dropouts, as well as a classification of the reasons for dropouts based on interviews with the students. The study shows that dropouts are correlated to the use of technological means and, based on this fact, the Hellenic Open University implemented interventions in the use of such means. It also proves that correlation exists between dropouts and students' age, but not gender, although female students are more reluctant to start following a course. However, it is also shown that female students' commitment to a course is stronger and thus, they do not drop out as easily as male students do. Furthermore, the results of this study strongly correlate dropouts to the existence of previous education in the field of Informatics or to working with computers, but not to the degree of specialisation in computers. Finally, the paper presents the reasons provided by the students for drooping out, with the main reasons being the inability to estimate the time required for university-level studies and the perceived difficulty of the computers course.

The paper examined the effect of varying intensities of comparative interaction level (CIL_L) and comparative ease of attending online classes (CE_L) (viz., high, and low) on comparative knowledge gained from online and face-to-face learning modes, and existence of differences on the effect across two intensities of the covariates. Based on complete enumeration of the population of 224 management students attending the online classes at Nepal Open University, Nepal (from 22nd February to 29th March 2020), the study-by employing a binary logistic regression modeldiscovered the effect of comparative interaction level and comparative ease of attending online classes as significant on the comparative gain of knowledge. Further, the study found that the effect of low intensities of comparative ease of attending online classes (CE_L) and comparative interaction level (CIL_L) are lower than high intensities of comparative interaction level and comparative ease of attending online classes in finding the online classessimilar/superior as opposed to the face-to-face classes. The findings should be instrumental to the exploration of the potential pathways to ameliorate the virtual learning mode as an alternative to the face-to-face one in Nepalese higher education regime.

There are many reasons why Indian open universities are adding online learning opportunities to their course offerings. Two universities, the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and the Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (YCMOU), have been developing online aspects of their programs for some years. This article documents the experiences at IGNOU and then examines the situation for online development at YCMOU. Lessons can be learned from both experiences. These include being strategic in choosing which courses to offer, and in deciding which services to develop for which clientele. Choosing those that will bring the greatest enhancement in flexibility and efficiency for the least amount of new skill requirement from learners is likely to be of biggest benefit. Keeping cognizant of the computing context of learner sub-groups and enhancing learning through additional optional online services is most likely to result in effective courses and quality student services while maintaining efficiencies in financial logistics.

This study discusses the problem of plagiarism in art learning in online classes. The art class was conducted using the Learning Management System (LMS) and attended by 31 Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini (PAUD) students, and arts department. This research method uses a survey derived from two types of data. The first data was obtained from a questionnaire distributed to 211 art students. Factors that determine copy-paste occur because of the tendency to postpone tasks, so they work at the end of time. The following data comes from the discussion assignment report done by the student. Tasks are scanned online using the application. The results of the analysis of plagiarism showed an average of 49.09%, with a word similarity level of 80.77%. Based on online scan reports, the source of plagiarism comes from the university repository. Students use Open Educational Resource (OER) in the form of dictates as material for doing art lecture assignments. In conclusion, students mistakenly understood the use of OER and digital literacy. Digital-based arts learning does not have a significant impact and requires the provision of academic writing.Keywords: Art Learning, LMS, OER, Digital Literacy, Plagiarism

Blended learning involves the combination of two fields of concern: education and educational technology. To gain the scholarly recognition from educationists, it is necessary to revisit its models and educational theory underpinned. This paper respond to this issue by reviewing models related to blended learning based on two prominent educational theorists, Maslow’s and Vygotsky’s view. Four models were chosen due to their holistic ideas or vast citations related to blended learning: (1) E-Moderation Model emerging from Open University of UK; (2) Learning Ecology Model by Sun Microsoft System; (3) Blended Learning Continuum in University of Glamorgan; and (4) Inquiry-based Framework by Garrison and Vaughan. The discussion of each model concerning pedagogical impact to learning and teaching are made. Critical review of the models in accordance to Maslow or Vygotsky is argued. Such review is concluded with several key principles for the design and practice in blended learning.

Semi-automatic Plant Pot Filling Machine is designed to make polythene pot filling in plant nurseries, faster and easier. A mix of soil is supplied to the machine and using a screw conveyor, the soil is transferred into the pot. Since there are many pot sizes, a mechanism has been implemented to change the speed of soil transferring.

What do we know from research about how three to five year olds learn mathematics, bearing in mind their social, emotional, physical and cognitive development? What are the most important aspects of mathematics for young children to learn and how might children learn them? How should adults 'teach' mathematics to children so young? This book provides a research background for adults helping three to five year olds learn mathematics, including social and emotional processes as well as key mathematical ideas and common difficulties. It includes implications for practice and proposes a playful and sensitive approach. It is illustrated with examples from the author's own research and work with practitioners.

Distance education is thought to be an effective way of educating people of all sections in society. The delivery system in distance education is different than that in the conventional on-campus teaching. However, distance education is considered as close substitute for the conventional on-campus teaching keeping in mind the premises that different types of media (print, audio, video, telephone, computerbased communication system, etc.) are synchronized in the delivery process in distance education and open learning system. Of course, in this age of information super high-way, nobody can challenge the possibility that effective and quality education can be offered through different types of modern media -without any real class room. Real class room can be substituted by virtual class room environment. Now a question frequently strikes our mind: "Is the realities in the developing countries like Bangladesh, where access to modern technologies is very limited, meet the philosophy of distance education?" This paper aims at examining whether there is any gap between the philosophy of the distance education and the reality in the developing countries like Bangladesh and identify the factors lies behind this gap. Then suggests some measures to be taken to minimize the gap. In the paper, we have analysed the data derived from a survey on the Secondary School Certificate programme of Bangladesh Open University.

In the era of the 21st century, the best higher education institutions have more than one role. Not only do they educate and train students but they also create new ideas and knowledge for the short-term contemporary issues as well as long-term complex problems. In the strategic goals, five aspects are critical in higher education: the democratization of knowledge and access, the contestability of the market and funding, the research technologies, the global mobility and the integration with the industry. Universities should have strategic plans including strategic goals. In this study, the strategic models and plans of the public (5) and private (5) universities are analysed from the five different aspects. In order to deeply understand the dynamics at these universities, the phenomenological interpretive analysis is preferred. University leaders
and managerial departments should consider market needs and do strategic plan accordingly. Hence, they should develop the strategic thinking capacity of both their academic staff and researchers for short and long terms need of the industry. Results have shown that most universities have wrong perception regarding the strategic model and plan. Neither private nor public universities possess enough knowledge on the subject.
Keywords: Higher education, university and industry partnership, strategic model and planning, higher education management, financing of higher education.

In the present scenario, the firm‘s management is facing multiple challenges in order sustain in the market and to cope with the global transformation each and every organization must implement the Supply Chain Management (SCM) in their management strategy. During the implementation, these firms undergo complex threats related to the supply chain. Thus, to address these critical supply chain threats, the firm must identify the factors causing these threats and components to cause the uncertainty and the key risk factors are communicating technology, information sharing, environmental factors, financial and strategic attributes.  In the unstable and unsecure terms of competitive environment identifying these risks cause the act of adaptation in strategic lever of the firm during the competitive process. The tools and technique are developed, to improvise the significant supply chain risks in context to firm’s priorities.  These supply chain risk appraisal processes provides support to make operational decisions and strategic plans to minimize the defect in supply chain quantity.
Key words: Risk factors of Supply Chain Management, Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM), Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM).

In the distance teaching institutions where e-learning initiatives are underway and where the planners and administrators grapple with effective adoption and deployment of technology-enabled education, faculty attitude and motivation assume considerable significance. Attitudinal pre-dispositions and institutional and allied barriers (including appropriate policy initiatives) are assumed to play a crucial role in making an effective shift from traditional distance education delivery to web-enabled education and training. Such issues are especially critical to single mode mega universities like the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). This article reports the findings of a study conducted to examine the attitudes of faculty members from IGNOU towards e-learning, and to identify barriers and motivators of e-learning adoption and use. IGNOU, with about 1.5 million students scattered over 32 countries, has been offering e-learning programs for almost a decade. The findings suggest that extensive use of computers and email has a high relationship with positive attitudes towards e-learning. The most significant barriers perceived by the faculty included poor internet access by students and lack of training on e-learning, followed by institutional policy on and instructional design for e-learning. The important motivators included personal interest to use technology, intellectual challenge, and sufficient provision for technology infrastructure.

Universities and Institutes of higher learning are large repositories of knowledge, manpower and physical resources. They cannot function and exist in isolation of the society and communities where they are located. They have an obligation to cater to the overall and diverse learning needs of the segments of the neighboring people and communities. If the University system has to discharge its social obligations and duties adequately it must embrace extension as the third important dimension and give it the same status as teaching and research. Extension is a new and extremely significant area. It caters to the community and overall and diverse learning needs of all the segments of the people of the community while generating new knowledge simultaneously. Once new body of knowledge is generated or innovations made, there usually exists a ‘gap’ between the existing knowledge of the client and the new knowledge available. Extension ‘bridges’ the gap in knowledge bringing desirable planned change in the behavior complex of the people with a view to help them live better by learning new /or improving existing vocations and enterprises. The Kothari Commission the India Education Commission in 1964 comprehensively examined and reviewed the entire educational system and emphasized ‘Extension as the third dimension of higher education’. It introduced the trinity of Teaching, Research & Extension in higher education. This was necessitated by the fact that the education has to be made relevant to real life situations, so that the learners cannot be alienated from the society, and they develop a sense of responsibility towards society.

Le developpement des technologies de l'Internet a ouvert de nouvelles opportunites et de nouvelles methodes de transmission de l'education. C'est la raison pour laquelle le concept d'e-formation prend de jour en jour plus d'importance. Dans le domaine de l'enseignement a distance, la methodologie de l'e-formation a ete une aubaine pour amener l'education a ceux qu'on ne pouvait atteindre. L'Universite nationale ouverte Indira Gandhi (IGNOU) offre ainsi des programmes Bachelor et Master depuis 1989. Les contenus pratiques de ces programmes sont envoyes depuis des centres d'etudes sur le modele d'une salle de classe. Un projet a ete mene pour developper un prototype d'e-formation pour un logiciel de gestion de bibliotheque. Ce projet qui fait partie de ces programmes est en construction et il est presque termine. La presentation traite du suivi de cette methodologic, du developpement du prototype et des realisations deja effectuees.

The XX IDEA annual conference has been focused and reflected on different ways and means of meeting various kinds of methodological challenges, new technologies and multi-media developments, newly emerging partnerships and collaboration between emerging sectors on one hand and between the institutions functioning with similar objectives and individuals operating with identical responsibilities on the other hand. Serious debates on emerging issues regarding ODL were made at the XX IDEA conference. It was a fruitful event for the institutions and individuals who are already active in the field, those interested in learning more about the theoretical and practical considerations in the field as innovative change agents, and also for those who wish to enter the world of competence and planning to develop OL and DE programmes.

Η εκπαιδευτική πραγματικότητα, λοιπόν, ακολουθεί μια δυναμικά εξελισσόμενη πορεία, που συναρθρώνεται κι επηρεάζεται από τη δυναμική και τις εξελίξεις της κοινωνίας (Πυργιωτάκης, 1992). Μιας κοινωνίας που κι αυτή με τη σειρά της προσδιορίζεται από τα κοινωνικοοικονομικά, πολιτικά και πολιτιστικά δεδομένα της εκάστοτε ιστορικής συγκυρίας.

Open Education explores the disruption of the traditional university as a result of the increasingly widespread provision of free online open education.

What for decades could only be dreamt of is now almost within reach: the widespread provision of free online education, regardless of a student’s geographic location, financial status or ability to access conventional institutions of learning. Yet for all the hype-cycle that has been entered into over MOOCs, TED Talks, Khan Academy, Wikiversity et al, many experiments with Open Education (OE) do not appear to be designed to challenge the becoming business of the university or alter Higher Education in any fundamental way. If anything, they seem more likely to lead to a two-tier system, in which those who can’t afford to pay (so much) to attend a traditional university, or belong to those groups who prefer not to move away from home (e.g. lower-income families), have to make do with a poor, online, second-rate alternative education produced by a global corporation.

CONTENTS
Preface/ 1 The University in the 21st Century/ 2 A Radically Different Model of Education and the University/ 3 The Educational Context/ 4 Open Education/ 5 Open Education Typologies/ 6 Towards a Philosophy of Open Education/ Conclusion: Diverse ‘disruption’/ Bibliography/Index

Written assignment feedback is a very important aspect of a learning procedure. Numerous studies investigate how feedback affects students’ learning. However, relevant data in Greece are limited. The main aim of the present study is to investigate the Hellenic Open University’s students’ perceptions regarding assignments’ effective feedback. It is a student group whose learning is based on the feedback
of their work. The findings show that students are very satisfied from the feedback they receive on assignments, they use it regularly and perceive it as very important for their learning. However, a problem that yielded from the present study is that tutors have different feedback patterns and as a result students do not necessarily receive effective feedback.

The study aspires, by giving voice to the experiences and perceptions of adult learners and their educators, as they embark on distance learning courses delivered by the Open University of Cyprus and the Hellenic Open University to unveil the adult learning and ‘fine-grained’ processes at work during the organization and delivery of the courses, with the ultimate aim to underline the factors influencing these processes. The project complements previous research and attempts to extract from the findings ideas and practices that could contribute to the re-organization of distance courses that facilitate adult learning. It has as its main units of analysis 16 adult learners and 8 educators, and rests on a research framework that views certain programme elements as being vital in unveiling the processes of adult learning. It harnesses a phenomenological approach and qualitative research techniques. The study contributes to a better theoretical understanding of the processes of adult learning and the mediating role of the distance learning context, in comparison to other previously explored contexts.

This is the text of a talk  presented on 17 January 1996 in Helskini, Finland, on the occasion of the launch of the Open University TV channel on Finnish Television, at the invitation of Mrs Martikainen-Florath, Head of Educational Programmes. In it I took the chance to review the history of the UK Open University television developments and, at the time when the Knowledge Media Institute was being launched, describe some of KMI's research into interactive television developments, with support from Microsoft.

A version of the paper has been available for many years in HTML form on the "pjb Associates" web site in two parts, at http://www.pjb.co.uk/10/future1.htm and http://www.pjb.co.uk/11/future2.htm

This paper discusses the implementation of a university teaching module, based on Lucy Green's (2008) informal music learning model. The synergy between Green's model and Paulo Freire's critical pedagogy is addressed through explanation of the module and its practices. The module was offered six times, from 2011 to 2016, as an action research project on a mixed-mode distance education undergraduate music program at the Open University of Brazil. The choices of technology in the module were aimed at promoting interactions in a dialogical, humanizing, and problem-posing approach to education in order to achieve conscientization (Freire 1970). However, the uses of technology and some of the practices of students led the author to ponder discourses of technological determinism.

Student dropout occurs quite often in universities providing distance education. The scope of this research is to study whether the usage of machine learning techniques can be useful in dealing with this problem. Subsequently, an attempt was made to identifying the most appropriate learning algorithm for the prediction of students' dropout. A number of experiments have taken place with data provided by the 'informatics' course of the Hellenic Open University and a quite interesting conclusion is that the Naive Bayes algorithm can be successfully used. A prototype web based support tool, which can automatically recognize students with high probability of dropout, has been constructed by implementing this algorithm.

It is a well-known fact that poverty acts an impediment for the poor to manage their day-to-day needs. They cannot afford to make good investment in educating their children, and this leads to an unproductive class of youth. Basic education can play a crucial role in bringing back ...

Abstract: This research,analyses,how,the development,of high-level cognitive skills happens,in higher,education,distance,learning courses,that employ,e- learning. Field research,was,completed,at the following,six universities,in the United Kingdom: The University of Manchester, Open University, Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Liverpool, University of London, and Cranfield University. Were,investigated,the determining and,restrictive factors to the development,of high-level cognitive,skills through,e-learning; identified academic activities that facilitate the development of these skills, identified