Still going strong today, The Open University, Britain’s national correspondence – TV – radio University, excited much controversy when it first opened and in 1973 awarded its first degrees. With its adult, part-time students, its freedom from formal entrance qualifications, it deliberately questioned many orthodoxies of higher education at the time. Yet the OU differed so much from other universities that few outsiders grasped quite how complex, quite how revolutionary, quite how downright infuriating the OU was, or could be.Originally published in 1974, this book gives a first-hand account of what the OU was about and what it felt like to be an OU student or lecturer. The articles in the collection – edited by Jeremy Tunstall, himself on the OU staff – include contributions from outside observers, from OU staff, and from OU students. This is an unofficial yet informed and lively account of what it felt like in 1974, and what it felt like in the early days, to be part of a project so controversial and progressive.

This historical perspective on The Open University, founded in 1969, frames its ethos (to be open to people, places, methods and ideas) within the traditions of correspondence courses, commercial television, adult education, the post-war social democratic settlement and the Cold War. A critical assessment of its engagement with teaching, assessment and support for adult learners offers an understanding as to how it came to dominate the market for part-time studies. It also indicates how, as the funding and status of higher education shifted, it became a loved brand and a model for universities around the world. Drawing on previously ignored or unavailable records, personal testimony and recently digitised broadcast teaching materials, it recognises the importance of students to the maintenance of the university and places the development of learning and the uses of technology for education over the course of half a century within a wider social and economic perspective.

Through a series of empirically and theoretically informed reflections, Opening Up the University offers insights into the process of setting up and running programs that cater to displaced students. Including contributions from educators, administrators, practitioners, and students, this expansive collected volume aims to inspire and question those who are considering creating their own interventions, speaking to policy makers and university administrators on specific points relating to the access and success of refugees in higher education, and suggests concrete avenues for further action within existing academic structures.

Originally published in 1991, this title was begun just before passage of the Education Reform Act of 1988 (ERA 88), which was implemented in the 1990s. This major act along with still-in-force provisions of the 1944 Education Act (with its 17 amendments) comprises the statutes governing education in England and Wales. The study reflects both the criticism and the praise showered on that important legislation, particularly in the Brief History and School Structure sections, and in Chapter 1 with its longer than usual annotations on ERA 88.

Experts discuss the potential for open education tools, resources, and knowledge to transform the economics and ecology of education. Given the abundance of open education initiatives that aim to make educational assets freely available online, the time seems ripe to explore the potential of open education to transform the economics and ecology of education. Despite the diversity of tools and resources already available—from well-packaged course materials to simple games, for students, self-learners, faculty, and educational institutions—we have yet to take full advantage of shared knowledge about how these are being used, what local innovations are emerging, and how to learn from and build on the experiences of others. Opening Up Education argues that we must develop not only the technical capability but also the intellectual capacity for transforming tacit pedagogical knowledge into commonly usable and visible knowledge: by providing incentives for faculty to use (and contribute to) open education goods, and by looking beyond institutional boundaries to connect a variety of settings and open source entrepreneurs. These essays by leaders in open education describe successes, challenges, and opportunies they have found in a range of open education initiatives. They approach—from both macro and micro perspectives—the central question of how open education tools, resources, and knowledge can improve the quality of education. The contributors (from leading foundations, academic institutions, associations, and projects) discuss the strategic underpinnings of their efforts first in terms of technology, then content, and finally knowledge. They also address the impact of their projects, and how close they come to achieving a vision of sustainable, transformative educational opportunities that amounts to much more than pervasive technology. Through the support of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, an electronic version of this book is openly available under a Creative Commons license at The MIT Press Web site, http://mitpress.mit.edu. Contributors Richard Baraniuk, Randy Bass, Trent Batson, Dan Bernstein, John Seely Brown, Barbara Cambridge, Tom Carey, Catherine Casserly, Bernadine Chuck Fong, Ira Fuchs, Richard Gale, Mia Garlick, Gerard Hanley, Diane Harley, Mary Huber, Pat Hutchings, Toru Iiyoshi, David Kahle, M. S. Vijay Kumar, Andy Lane, Diana Laurillard, Stuart Lee, Steve Lerman, Marilyn Lombardi, Phil Long, Clifford Lynch, Christopher Mackie, Anne Margulies, Owen McGrath, Flora McMartin, Shigeru Miyagawa, Diana Oblinger, Neeru Paharia, Cheryl Richardson, Marshall Smith, Candace Thille, Edward Walker, David Wiley

This critical analysis of the state of open and flexible learning examines the characteristics, needs and learning approaches of students, considers whether or not current provision is successful and how student retention can be improved.

Opening the Online Door to Academe: A Practical Guide to Doctoral Study Online and Beyond will benefit doctoral learners, both traditional and online, those pondering future educational plans, and newly-minted doctoral graduates seeking higher education positions from the wisdom and insight in this very practical text.