Primary objective: To examine perceptions of academic quality and approaches to studying in students taking six technology courses by distance education. Research design: Students taking four courses received an end-of-course questionnaire. The following year, students taking all six courses received a mid-course questionnaire. Method: The Course Experience Questionnaire and the Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory were administered in a postal survey to 3539 students of the UK Open University. Outcomes and results: Across successive levels of study, students were progressively less likely to adopt a deep approach, were more likely to adopt a surface approach and rated their courses less favourably, especially with regard to the workload and materials. Between the middle and end of a course, students were more likely to adopt a deep approach and gave more positive ratings with regard to the materials and amount of choice. Conclusions: The survey instruments can be recommended as useful tools for monitoring the experiences of engineering and technology students. (Contains 5 tables.)