The purpose of this article is to present the challenges faced in implementing open and online learning by the recently established Open University of Nepal (NOU), which has been offering limited courses in graduate study, all blended since 2018. University leaders, faculty members, technical staff, and students at Nepal Open University…

Distance education institutions worldwide are adopting online learning to take advantage of its benefits. However, online learning is often seen as a mode of delivery that will work for any distance education institution in any context. The increased relevance of online learning during and after the COVID-19 pandemic has further exaggerated the…

Online and open learning has recently been made prevalent in many regions in order to mitigate educational inequality and to enhance students' learning experiences and outcomes. Previous studies showed that students perform differently in the learning process, where cultural differences matter. However, little is known about how cultural…

Open online education experiences persistently high dropout rates, and the efficacy of dropout interventions has been questioned. Despite considerable research, dropout reasons are not fully understood, and further in-depth investigation has been called for. Prior qualitative retention studies have frequently relied on smaller samples that are…

Purpose: This study aims to explore the extent and types of E-Learning used, as method and tool, to support education for sustainable development (ESD); and to understand the coverage of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in massive open online courses (MOOCs). Design/methodology/approach: The study extends the morphological box of ESD in higher…

This pilot study explores and documents online students' and their lecturer's debut experiences of utilising VoiceThread (VT), a digital multimodal platform, as an alternative discussion space via Open Universities Australia (OUA). Feedback from the lecturer's teaching log and interview was corroborated with his OUA students' survey responses, and…

Goal setting is an important component in successful teaching and learning, but relatively little is known about its impact on course persistence and achievement in massive open online courses. Using an experimental design and employing a variety of data including student writings, content-related assignment attempts, and quantitative achievement…

This research explores the effect of implementing educational open microcredentials on student motivation, engagement, and completion in open access online courses. Our case study reviews the impact on the Community of Learning for African PhD Fellows, a capacity-building project supporting PhD fellows in Sub-Saharan Africa. It builds on an…

MOOCs represent an emerging model for delivering education services. Notwithstanding their potential, they suffer significant dropout rates, which have been attributed to the low motivation of the registered students. This research seeks to understand the variance in the levels of intention to continue using MOOCs (ICM) in relation to motivation…

A major challenge for distance learning in higher education is supporting course completion. Counteracting completion risk factors requires investigating their significance across (non)completion stages. We tested the predictability of known risk factors at each completion stage. Not initiating was explained by available time, low motivation and…

As an innovative evaluation tool, peer assessment is essential in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). In both formative and summative peer assessments in MOOCs, providing reliable feedback is crucial in enhancing learning outcomes. Peer assessment has been highlighted as a reliable tool in both traditional classrooms and small-scale online…

The success of MOOC (massive open online courses) is rapidly increasing. Most educational institutions are highly interested in these online platforms, which embrace intellectual and educational objectives and provide various opportunities for lifelong learning. However, many limitations, such as learners' diversity, lack of motivation, affected…

Prior studies of MOOC learners have focused almost exclusively on behavioural and social aspects of engagement. This paper extends the scope of previous studies by adopting a multi-dimensional, person-centred approach to investigate learner engagement in MOOCs. An analysis of 1,452 self-administered survey responses uncovered three prototypical…

This study examined faculty and student perceptions of renewable assignments within an OER-enabled pedagogy framework. Building on Wiley and Hilton's (2018) framework, this study focused on the subset of practices that result in renewable assignments. Renewable assignments leverage OER permissions (reuse, redistribute, retain, remix, revise) to…

The current study investigated the open and distance learning vision of higher education institutions in Turkey and revealed several implications for leadership. Considering the potential overlap between vision and mission statements, both of the statements used by 82 units within higher education institutions were qualitatively investigated…