In this study, the relationship between students’ e-learning readiness, perceptions of interaction in online learning environments, satisfaction, and academic achievement was examined. The research was conducted according to correlational study principles. The academic achievement variable of the study was determined based on the final exam grades of the students, and three separate scales were used for other variables. The data of the study were obtained from 212 students who received fully online education. The data obtained were analyzed by structural equation modelling method. According to the results of the study, e-learning readiness and interaction perception are predictors of satisfaction in online learning environments. The effect of interaction on satisfaction was found to be higher. There is a moderate relationship between student-content and student-instructor interaction dimensions of interaction and satisfaction. There is a low level relationship between many dimensions of e-learning readiness and satisfaction. However, e-learning readiness, interaction, and satisfaction are not predictors of academic achievement. Moreover, no significant relationship was found between e-learning readiness and interaction. Based on the findings of the study, various comments and suggestions were made regarding better online learning environments.

Open Educational Resources (OER) have continued to gain traction in higher education, assisting with ever-rising costs of publisher textbooks and supporting pedagogical innovation. Starting in 2017, NY state legislature has allocated funds annually to be split between its two public university systems to support and incentivize the adoption of OER. The author’s institution, an included public college, has secured portions of this funding each year. This paper will focus on the initial five years of the state-funded OER initiative at the City University of New York (CUNY) College of Staten Island, with reflections on the successes of the program, the overall process of the annual grant cycle on campus, challenges that arose in the burgeoning OER program, and suggestions for future considerations. The main aim of this paper is to highlight the impact of state funding on the establishment of a library-facilitated OER initiative, to serve as a example for other institutions who are seeking to build an OER program.

This article suggests to reflect on the philosophical foundations of Open Education. It reaches out to Bergson’s and Popper’s respective understandings of Open Society; ontology of immanence, not-yetness; and post-inquiry. It invites to revisit ethos, eidos and praxis in Open Education to move away from a prevailing Western, dominant, unsustainable paradigm and explore a holistic approach, the inclusion of indigenous knowledge systems, the shift from an overall domesticating to a liberating education, and the making visible of what has been made invisible. This discussion precedes the presentation of a roadmap drafted for Open Education in the Swiss Higher Education landscape, explaining why it has been deliberately prepared at the epistemic level and how relevant this is in relation to the sustainability process, providing a horizon for the first of three steps - survival, security, sustainability.

This paper critically examines the transformation of the educational landscape through the integration of generative AI with Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Educational Practices (OEP). The emergence of AI in content creation has ignited debate regarding its potential to comprehend and generate human language, creating content that is often indistinguishable from that produced by humans. This shift from organic (human-created) to synthetic (AI-created) content presents a new frontier in the educational sphere, particularly in the context of OER and OEP. The paper explores the generative AI’s capabilities in OER and OEP, such as automatic content generation, resource curation, updating existing resources, co-creation and facilitating collaborative learning. Nevertheless, it underscores the importance of addressing challenges like the quality and reliability of AI-generated content, data privacy, and equitable access to AI technologies. The critical discussion extends to a contentious issue, ownership in OER/OEP. While AI-generated works lack human authorship and copyright protection, the question of legal liability and recognition of authorship remains a significant concern. In response, the concept of prompt engineering and co-creation with AI is presented as a potential solution, viewing AI not as authors, but powerful tools augmenting authors’ abilities. By examining generative AI’s integration with OER and OEP, this paper encourages further research and discussion to harness AI’s power while addressing potential concerns, thereby contributing to the dialogue on responsible and effective use of generative AI in education.

This paper highlights some key historical perspectives and antecedents of African Indigenous knowledge (AIK) and practices while identifying ‘open’ futures and opportunities for the application of digital technologies for educational opportunities that build on this cultural base. The role and negative impact of colonialism in the under-development of AIK is examined in this context together with the impact of post-colonial and contemporary corruption in further undermining the value of Indigenous knowledge systems. Two key concepts are identified as a counterpoint to this: the resilience of AIK and ‘local wisdom’ and the openness underpinning much of the ongoing digital revolution. This natural alignment can help guide the integration of Indigenous-based knowledge and practices and the deployment of open and distance learning in the re-birth of African Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AIKS). Openness is a pivotal concept here for it is integral to both the architecture of the Web and in its ongoing evolution. Given the identified opportunities associated with digital technology, and despite the challenges, it is argued that there is an unequivocal need for AIKS to explore the advantages of open education resources and practices in promoting this rebirth that is also consistent with modern science and technologies in Africa and beyond.

COVID’19 is hastening the adoption of online learning and teaching worldwide, and across all levels of education. While many of the typical learning and teaching transactions such as lecturing and communicating are easily handled by contemporary online learning technologies, others, such as assessment of learning outcomes with closed book examinations are fraught with challenges. Among other issues to do with students and teachers, these challenges have to do with the ability of teachers and educational organizations to ensure academic integrity in the absence of a live proctor when an examination is being taken remotely and from a private location. A number of online proctoring tools are appearing on the market that portend to offer solutions to some of the major challenges. But for the moment, they too remain untried and tested on any large scale. This includes the cost of the service and their technical requirements. This paper reports on one of the first attempts to properly evaluate a selection of these tools and offer recommendations for educational institutions. This investigation, which was carried out at the University of the South Pacific, comprised a four-phased approach, starting with desk research that was followed with pilot testing by a group of experts as well as students. The elimination of a tool in every phase was based on the ‘survival of the fittest’ approach with each phase building upon the milestones and deliverables from the previous phase. This paper presents the results of this investigation and discusses its key findings.

Transnational Networked Curricula (TNC) provides many benefits to the institutions that offer them as well as to the different stakeholders involved, not only the students but also the academics, the institutions as a whole, and the wider society. Supporting Higher Education Institutions in enhancing and implementing international networked practices in virtual campus building is the main aim of the NetCU project, which has been developed by the EADTU, in partnership with 14 member organizations, from 2009 to 2012. The project outcomes intend to facilitate the future set-up of networked curricula in Higher Education institutions and potentially lead to more transnational partnerships in Open and Distance Education (ODE) and blended learning, showing challenges, obstacles and ways to overcome them. This paper presents the main products developed in the project, assesses its completeness and usage, and discusses on the challenges of curricula networking starting from the ideas and opinions shared in different stakeholders workshops organized under the NetCU project.

This paper examines the practical experience and research background of one private training provider with over 10 years’ experience reskilling and upskilling mid-career workers with academic qualifications for employment in a growing technical and highly regulated pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. This paper offers insights into how to maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of the admissions, enrollment, induction and orientation process for adult learners looking to commence studies on university accredited continuous professional development (CPD) courses. This process is based on and analysed through the lens of Behavioural Science, while also building upon the work of Dirksen, Colvin Clark, Stolovitch, and Keeps. The data set has been gathered during 2020 and 2021, from 425 adult learner applicants, coming from a variety of educational and employment backgrounds, with 5 to 25 years of work experience.

The cost of textbooks has continued to increase with significant financial effects on students in higher education. Although many faculty express a desire and willingness to adopt and create open textbooks (and OER generally), few actually do. To better understand this gap between attitudes and practices, this phenomenological study builds upon the findings of a survey of faculty members at a large, nationally-ranked, high-research-activity university in the U.S. and uses in-depth interviews to understand faculty members’ lived experiences with OER adoption and creation. Results indicated that though faculty might be motivated to use and create OER to reduce cost and improve pedagogy, they are regularly stymied by quality considerations, copyright fears, technical difficulties, and sustainability concerns. We explore each of these issues in some depth and provide discussion and suggestions on how similar institutions (e.g., high-research-activity) should respond to help support OER adoption and creation.

Distance education particularly the IT based distance learning is a fast growing concept in the academic world. The employees working in such distance learning institutions have certain issues that need to be investigated. One important such issue the job satisfaction of employees. Job satisfaction of employees can be investigated through several variables. Job satisfaction is equally important in all the organizations including the face to face and distance learning organizations. Distance learning organizations differ from face to face as the supervisor and the employees happen to be seated hundreds of miles away from each other. They do not even have a facial know how or interaction with each other. This distance create certain differences in the culture and the facial anonymity also has an impact on the supervisor support and other issues as well. This study intended to analyze the impact of organizational culture, organizational communication and supervisor support on the job satisfaction of the employees working in the IT based distance learning institutions of Pakistan. These variables are so selected because the employees working in such organizations happen to be seated away from supervisor and one another as well. A survey was conducted for this purpose in which data was collected through online questionnaire and data processed through regression analysis. Findings of the study revealed that all the three variables including organizational culture, organizational communication and supervisor support has a positive impact on the job satisfaction of employees working in the IT based distance learning organizations.