Leveraging technology to break the iron triangle of access, cost, and quality is a legacy of open universities (OUs), becoming a source of inspiration for higher education in general. Today, OUs face increasing competition from conventional universities, no longer enjoying the first-mover advantages as they did in the earlier years. Can artificial…

The aim of this study is to evaluate the extent to which open, and distance education universities are fulfilling their stated purpose as higher education institutions in SubSaharan countries. The starting point of understanding the purpose of an institutions is to analyse the content of mission statements and the context in which the universities…

The over-exaggeration of technology's role in education has dominated the landscape of research, often resulting in the negligence of other important issues. This article critiques openness in technology-based education from the perspective of sustainability, put more specifically, cost-effectiveness and accessibility, both of which have direct…

Open Education gained more visibility as a result of the emergence of Open Educational Resources (OER) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). This article discusses whether MOOCs should be considered as OER. Open Education and OER can be treated as two strands with different historical roots even though, in theory, OER are an aspect of Open…

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…

The integration of podcasts in an open distance e-learning environment can play a crucial role in reducing transactional distance through providing quality educational opportunities and access to information through any digital devise. However, technology does not improve teaching, unless if there is a well-conceived educational process taking…

Recently, the University of South Africa widened access to academic facilities and services at one of its study centres. Although this is laudable and demonstrates a commitment by the university towards its students, it raises these three concerns (1) What is the occupancy rate of the facilities? (2) To what extent are these improved facilities…

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the factors for success and course completion through the lens of participants in a Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) system implemented in Turkey. Thirty-two participants were selected on the basis of purposive sampling among 5000 enrolled users from 10 MOOCs, who were then classified into 3…

The central concept behind Open Educational Resources (OER) is opening up the access to educational resources for stakeholders who are not the usual target user group. This concept must be perceived as innovative because it describes a general economic and social paradigm shift: Education, which formerly was limited to a specific group of…

Traditional and affordable access to a university education is under siege from all sides. National realpolitiks and global economic downturns have driven open education into the mainstream to stand against educational elitism, the growing digital divide, and to support the core values that give education its fundamental credence as a human right.…

This is a critical phase for Open Educational Resources (OER) movement: on one side the number of OER is increasing rapidly, and on other side debates about quality of OER-based courseware are heating up. These debates emanate from the fact that OER-based courseware are supposed to help users to follow a logical learning path and get an engaging,…