This paper showcases relevant initiatives to address inclusive and sustainable development through the objectives of UNESCO's Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) towards ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and to promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. These research projects have been possible thanks to initiatives such…

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…

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…

Purpose: We describe a series of more than a dozen studies on self-directed online learning spanning over a decade. Design/Approach/Methods: We incorporated surveys, interviews, focus groups, and content analyses into these research studies, which initially targeted the goals, motivations, and challenges of learners using open educational…

The COVID-19 crisis has given rise to the question, what are the main trends in online learning? What might the future look like? While predicting the future is best left to those who appear to have a crystal ball, the need for big picture helicopter thinking has never been more apparent as online learning remains under the spotlight. This paper…

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are emerging as the new trend for modern higher education institutions. Student acceptance is viewed as the key determinant for the success of MOOCs. This study intends to examine factors influencing higher education students' behavioral intention to adopt MOOCs. Thus, this study proposes the use of a modified…

The main objective of this research is to establish the measurement of pre-service teachers on the MOOC phenomenon, one of the most important manifestations within the processes of on-line education that have emerged under the protection of the digital paradigm. The research methodology used was of an exploratory, qualitative, and descriptive…

Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is a new trend in flexible education due to its flexibility to study anything, anywhere and anytime. It has the potential to attract a huge number of learners to study courses unlimitedly via the online platform. This is a design and development study where a Chemistry MOOC was developed in an OpenLearning…

This book situates Massive Open Online Courses and open learning within a broader educational, economic and social context. It raises questions regarding whether Massive Open Online Courses effectively address demands to open up access to education by triggering a new education order, or merely represent reactionary and unimaginative responses to…

Open and Distance Learning (ODL) has been implemented in universities around the world since decades ago. With COVID-19 pandemic, its implementation has been accelerated globally at an unprecedented speed and haste. Thus, the aim of this paper is to investigate the university students' perspectives on ODL amidst COVID-19. By using the convenient…

This study uses a case study approach to examine the development of a massive open online course (MOOC) on intervention and implementation research in infectious diseases of poverty for learners in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Implementation research (IR) seeks to understand and address barriers to effective implementation of health…

The purpose of this research is to examine the research that has been done on MOOCs by applying data mining and analytic approaches and to depict the current state of MOOC research. The text mining revealed four broad themes: (I) MOOCs as a mainstreaming learning model in HE, (II) motivation and engagement issues in MOOCs, (III) assessment issues…

Advent of digital technologies and open learning spaces have superbly influenced higher education worldwide both in the formal and open universities. Open education is emerged as contemporary approach to learning and teaching. Teachers' professional development in open education is a recognized and stimulating research area. MOOCs are innovative…

Online learning has increasingly been adopted by most institutions of higher learning to facilitate teaching and learning as a continuum to the traditional face-to-face approach. Most of these institutions utilize Learning Management Systems which contain features that are intended to make students active participants not only by delivering…

Learning at a distance and learning online are growing in scale and importance in higher education, presenting opportunities for large scale, inclusive, flexible and engaging learning. These modes of learning swept the world in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The many challenges of providing effective education online and remotely have been…