Video lectures are fast becoming an everyday educational resource in higher education. They are being incorporated into existing university curricula around the world, while also emerging as a key component of the open education movement. In 2007, the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) implemented its poliMedia lecture capture system for…

Distance learners often rely on written feedback for learning and for motivation. But feedback that is "given" to learners and that relies on praise to motivate does not engage learners in the process of self-development. We propose that an ipsative approach to assessment and feedback based on a comparison with a learner's previous…

The integration of technology in higher education has been swiftly changing since 2000. This study, which focused on issues related to technology integration in higher education, included 24 interviews done in 15 universities. The interviews documented an accelerated pace of change as well a wide range of innovations. Relying on the idea that…

This research explores manifestations of "diploma disease" in distance education (DE) upgrading programmes for basic school teachers in Ghana. A survey design which included document analysis was used to explore the emphasis in the contents of the DE programme and the experiences of teachers who took the programmes. The study involved a…

This is a critical examination of the claims that innovations such as massive open online courses (MOOCs) will disrupt the business models of the higher education sector. It describes what business models are, analyses the business model of free MOOCs offered by traditional universities and compares that model to that of paid online courses…

This article outlines a methodological approach to the creation, production and dissemination of online collaborative audio-visual projects, using new social learning technologies and open-source video tools, which can be applied to any e-learning environment in higher education. The methodology was developed and used to design a course in the…

Research into motivation in education mainly centres on students' learning motivation. This article reports on an interview study of teacher motivation with the aim of investigating the effects of student-related factors and tutors' personal factors on the motivation of language tutors in the distance learning context. Findings from the…

This case study relates to distance learning students on open access courses. It demonstrates the use of predictive analytics to generate a model of the probabilities of success and retention at different points, or milestones, in a student journey. A core set of explanatory variables has been established and their varying relative importance at…

Globalisation, the shift to a knowledge economy, and changing demographics are increasingly challenging higher education systems. The move from elite through mass to universal education, coupled with the internationalisation of higher education, has profoundly influenced the system, especially in terms of academic mobility. It has created new…

This paper explores the ways in which module and curriculum development in the context of a distance education (DE) programme play an important role in "constructing" a discipline's object of study, thus contributing to the ways in which knowledge is understood in society. The paper examines how the process of module production both…

This study addresses the need for trained medical interpreters in various local/ethnic languages especially at public health institutions in Turkey, and argues that distance learning would be an effective tool for medical interpreting training, given the particular constraints of the situation. Designed to meet the respective needs of different…

In this article I will share a qualitative self-study about a 15-week blended 100% online graduate level course facilitated through synchronous meetings on Blackboard Collaborate and asynchronous discussions on Blackboard. I taught the course at the University of Tennessee (UT) during the spring 2012 semester and the course topic was online…

Open educational resources (OER) are making their way into a variety of educational contexts from formal lesson planning to just in time learning. Educators and training professionals have been recognized as an important audience for these materials. The concepts of "self-efficacy" and "outcome judgment" from social cognitive…

Textbooks represent a significant portion of the overall cost of higher education in the United States. The burden of these costs is typically shouldered by students, those who support them, and the taxpayers who fund the grants and student loans which pay for textbooks. Open educational resources (OER) provide students a way to receive…

A field enquiry in French distance education allows us to analyze the evolution of a specific institution towards new public management: Parallel to a trend of free courseware and open education, there is a paradoxical reality of distance education monetization. Whereas history shows how traditional French education is a state controlled public…